October Reflection: Let the Rotations Continue

Photo by Fallon Michael on Unsplash

Here's a peek inside the library world. As I mentioned in my last reflection I have begun my rotations. This month is my rotation through the Teaching, Learning, and Research departments. This department is one that I am most familiar with and have really been looking forward to. Other than my rotation I have also been attending webinars and working on the service portion of my residency. I also rounded my month off by visiting our bridge partners at Tri-County Community College. Overall, it's been a great month.

​Each week of this month I would focus on a different division of the Teaching, Learning, and Research department. I began with User Services which is honestly one of my favorite divisions from my public library experience. Thinking about user needs and doing customer service is one of the reasons I've really enjoyed librarianship. Then I visited the University Press which was another great department to chat with since my last position was managing an imprint. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations I was able to have about open access and journals, but also about how the University Press works with authors and deals with submissions. It was fascinating and I can't wait to work with them a bit more on projects. Then I made my way to Teaching & Learning where I was able to have a jam-packed day of learning more about the special subject librarians. I loved being able to sit with so many different librarians with similar and not-so-similar pathways as mine. Though I started off thinking I wanted to focus on Young Adult Services I knew it was because as a Teen Librarian, I had one focus. Being a special subject librarian in an academic space may be a tad different from the research and service expectations but ultimately it is the same work that I know and love to do. The rotation ended with a discussion and look at open education which is another pathway I hadn't really looked at before but there are some surprising crossovers with my skillsets and interests that I found really interesting and engaging. Ultimately, this entire rotation has reaffirmed the aspects of librarianship that I like the most.

One thing I appreciate about many of my workspaces is their support of professional development. Technically all of the libraries that I've worked at have really been affirming in letting employees develop professionally. If not the entire institution then my supervisors have been. That said this month I've gone to an Archive webinar and also attended some faculty interviews/presentations. It has been informative. 

Lastly, I am big on service, to be honest. I typically dive into service opportunities and sometimes tend to over-extend. However, since the pandemic, I've learned to only commit within my capacity. That said I've been able to be a preliminary judge of a 3 minute thesis competition which was a lot of fun. I felt like I learned a lot on topics I am not a expert in. I also have been selected to be a reviewer/moderator for the Conference of Academic Library Management 2024 which is exciting and something new for me. Also I've joined the Social Media & Communications team for the Resident Interest Group of ACRL which is really exciting. I love being on Social Media teams. 

As you can see, this has been a full month and I've enjoyed being here so far. The other things that I've not mentioned but should lightly be noted on is that libraries face turmoil in the most unexpected ways so that can be frustrating and disappointing. I can say that it bolsters my commitment to library work no matter how political the world gets. I also had to submit my reappointment paperwork for Year 2 of my residency. There was a nervous energy everyone had about this that didn't hit me until I submitted my paperwork. Academia is strange in this way where things are formalized but if I had to compare it to something I guess I compare it to annual reviews in public library spaces. I always am a big believer that my work is proof enough so I have nothing to be nervous about. In this space though I realized I am more nervous about not doing the paperwork right than I am about anything else. However, we'll see what happens. Until next time.