Dr. Abigail Leigh Phillips

Tag: questions

What to do with the, “What I didn’t learn in library school…” conversation.

Sometimes it’s just meant as a helpful conversation starter. “I didn’t learn this in library school, but now I know….”. Sometimes it’s a statement of fact. “I didn’t learn this in library school.”. Yet often it seems as a criticism of the LIS education experience. It’s a complicated discussion among librarians, expressing both disappointment and frustration with the ways in which MLIS programs educate future librarians. I’ve witnessed and participated in these discussions via social media, discussion boards, and listservs over the past few years since I left librarianship (oddly enough, not when I worked as a librarian).

There are so many crucial things you don’t learn in library school that become part of your day-to-day life as a librarian. Some days you have to serve as replacement janitors. Other times you are dealing with a local political figure who is hell bent on cutting your budget and staff. Maybe you need to find businesses to sponsor your library’s Summer Reading Program or run into rude and critical patrons. Who learned about that in library school? Why did I spend time reading about information science theory, information architecture, and information ethics if I couldn’t even manage patron relationships or create a storytime?

As a young librarian, with a brand new, framed (by my parents) MLIS diploma (and student debt), I found myself becoming confused and overwhelmed by how much I didn’t know about librarianship or library work. Despite having spent the majority of my life either patronizing, volunteering, or working in public libraries, I felt completely lost. Politics is a thing? Community assessment? Outreach and marketing? While programs vary, there is a lot that left out of the library school experience. But is it a LIS graduate program’s responsibility to teach the nitty gritty of librarianship?

Librarianship Class c. 1949

To me, no. An LIS program should (ideally) lay the theoretical and philosophical groundwork of librarianship and the provision of library services. These programs provide us with a better understanding of not only what our field encompasses; but also the history of our profession and its framing (You know, Ranganathan, Buckland, John Budd, Marcia Bates, Kuhlthau). The models and theories created by these information scientists inform how we conduct an reference interview, deconstruct information needs, assess an information request, and even view the profession.

Another question is what should MLIS programs teach? Obviously, there’s no such thing as the perfect program, the perfect course schedule, or the perfect faculty. More practical versus more philosophical versus somewhere in-between. So much of the practical, day-to-day library responsibilities and tasks you learn on the job through mentorship, experience, or sometimes just plain failure.

Within the library community there is also the recurring argument about whether a master’s degree is necessary or if an ALA-accredited MLIS really matters. Recently, I’ve considered applying to be an external review panelist just to learn more about the accreditation process. There is obviously a lot of work to be done to regarding LIS education to make coursework more relevant to contemporary issues and questions.

Librarians Wanted!

I know there are so many library workers who disagree with me. And I understand their arguments. Grad school is expensive; both financially and time-wise. Especially if you’re doing it as a distance without the possibility for graduate assistantships to help with tuition and expenses. Or if you’re already working full-time and looking for a new career path. Taking courses one at a time, at night. None of this is easy.

There are other barriers that exist for some of those interested in pursuing an MLIS. There’s a serious lack of diversity in librarianship. This is an overwhelming problem that must be addressed. Also working in libraries often times doesn’t pay well. Depending on where you live, what type of library work you do (academia, school, public), the changing nature of state and local budgets, etc., you may struggle just to pay for daily necessities. The clichéd statement that you don’t go into the libraries for the money is kinda true but also kinda terrible to tell MLIS students and young librarians (actually any library worker).

I’m not the only voice in this discussion (I kinda pointed that out at the beginning). What am I missing or overlooking? What other questions, opinions, or insights should I be thinking about?

Here are a few other interesting posts on the topic:

I Need a Library Job: “Why do you need a master’s degree to be a librarian?” Crowdsourcing an Answer for an Irritating Question

Locked in the Library: Why Does a Librarian Need a Masters Degree?

Bookriot: On the MLIS: Why I’m Getting the Library Degree

Thank you for reading!

2017-09-21
The Impact of Our Work on Ourselves

While interviewing rural librarians and young adults for my dissertation over last summer, I had the most surprising conversation with one high school librarian. We’ll call her Mary to maintain confidentiality. Our interview turned to the topic of how our work with patrons has an impact on us. Being from the South, Mary had been raised in a conservative, Southern Baptist church for the majority of her life. While in this church, she had been taught a harsh and judgmental perspective regarding sexuality, gender identity, and non-traditional lifestyles. When Mary began working teens in a high school library, she carried these views and assumptions with her. However, as she started engaging more and more with her young patrons, Mary saw her views begin to change in major ways.

During the interview, Mary explained that she saw herself becoming more accepting and welcoming of those who lived and loved differently than she did. By interacting with her gay and transgendered high school patrons, she realized that the church that she had been a member of was flawed and destructive. Eventually, Mary broke away from this church and now sees herself as happier because of it. This turned into a very inspirational moment for me. Having also been raised in a Southern Baptist church, I knew exactly the type of mentality that exists in these churches and how challenging it can be, for some, to separate from church teachings. It is much easier to continue along in the highly critical and mentally harmful world in which you have been raised. Mary’s experience keeps coming back to my mind over and over again.

The more I thought about this interview, the more I realized that this is not a conversation that I recall ever having during my MLIS or PhD program or even through my research. In LIS, we talk a lot about the impact we have (or may potentially have) on our patrons, particularly the impact children and teen librarians have on young patrons. Yet, we rarely discuss or consider the impact of this work on ourselves. The librarian I interviewed had been directly and personally impacted by working with her high school patrons. Out of all my interviews with librarians, only Mary mentioned being changed through her work with youth.

After an admittedly cursory look at existing research about the impact of our work on ourselves, I have found little in the way of scholarly or even practitioner research. Most of what I found that somewhat relates are discussions about the impact on job satisfaction, workplace stress, and motivation. But I haven’t found anything about how our work as librarians impacts our personal lives. (Please prove me wrong! There must be something.) This is disappointing. Our everyday work with patrons, especially younger patrons, must and perhaps should have some sort of positive impact on our personal and professional lives. At the same time, I can think of several examples from my work in the library where interactions with patrons has not been the best and impacted my personal life in negative ways. Obviously, our work can have both a positive and negative impact of our personal and professional lives. Yet, why aren’t we talking and writing about this topic? More research is needed into the positive and negative impact of our work on ourselves. More conversation is needed. More questions are needed.

2016-03-18
Defending My Dissertation and Other Things I’ve Experienced Recently

On Monday, February 8, I successfully defended my dissertation. I stood up in front of a room of people and presented my dissertation research, opening myself up to questions and critiques (constructive). I’ve talked about my fear of public speaking on this blog before. While my fear has calmed somewhat, I still hate speaking in front of people. HATE. To help deal with this during my defense, I went with an old school approach. I printed off my lecture notes, glued them to large index cards, and presented with those by my side. To me, this felt like cheating. Shouldn’t I be confident enough to present my hard work to a room full of people who care about me? (No). But as my major professor said, “This isn’t a public speaking competition. It’s a dissertation defense”. It doesn’t really matter. I survived and passed.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions from friends and acquaintances since my defense. “How do you feel now that you’re on the other side?”, “Don’t you feel more relaxed?”, “Has your work load changed”, and my least favorites,”What are your next steps? Where do you go from here?”. I realize people are well-meaning and generally care about me, but I have trouble dealing with these questions. I generally feel a sense of helplessness, frustration, and dread when one of these questions pops up. I’ve decided to respond to these questions in a post (a place where none of these people will ever see my responses).

First, let’s address, “How do you feel now that you’re on the other side?”. Right after the defense, I felt numb. I didn’t know what to feel or think. I went on like this for several days. There’s such a build up (emotionally and intellectually) to the defense. So much anxiety, stress, and fear. It’s hard to know what to feel after the presentation is over, you’ve met with your committee, and all the forms are signed. After awhile, this numbness turned into nothingness. Right now, I feel nothing. I don’t feel happy, excited, sad, or upset about the end of my dissertation or even the end of my doctoral career. I don’t feel anything except a vague sense of confusion. Maybe this is because I have revisions I need to make. It could be that once I complete these minor revisions , I’ll feel like I truly succeeded. Or maybe it’ll be after graduation when I officially receive my PhD and can be called Dr. Phillips. I don’t know.

Second, “Don’t you feel more relaxed? Has your work load changed?”. No and no. I am person who is incapable of fully relaxing. Are there others like me? I should investigate this further. I have trouble relaxing for a variety of reasons, but I right now I can’t relax. Defending my dissertation didn’t help me relax or decrease my workload. I still have to find a job and finish edits to my dissertation. Maybe people believe that after defending your dissertation you have all this free time or can shift gears and work on something else. This hasn’t been the case for me. Perhaps it is for others. Lucky you!

Finally, the questions of “What are your next steps? Where do you go from here?”. Well, looking for a job is what I’m doing (and editing my dis). In all honesty, I don’t know where I’ll go from here. It depends on where I get a job. The job search process is kind of exciting, terrifying, nerve wracking, and frustrating. Applying to jobs is so time consuming and tedious. Sometimes it feels like you’re throwing yourself into the void, forced to patiently wait for some sort of response. I will find a job (I say this in a confident, convincing sort of voice to myself a lot, “Yes, I will!”). Then, go from there.

Hopefully, my ramblings aren’t coming across as negative or concerning. I’m simply using this post as a way to deal with the range of emotions I’m feeling (or not feeling) at the moment. Enjoy the confusion with me!

2016-02-26
“Do We Really Need Libraries When We Have the Internet?”

While working as a professional librarian, I would frequently encounter questions like, “Do we need libraries anymore?”, “Is Google putting libraries out of business?”, and “What do librarians do now that you can just go online?” I imagine the majority of people asking these types of questions lack a solid understanding of what librarians do or how libraries operate. In my experience, these people are usually are not regular library users (if at all) or library supporters. But similar questions have been raised in popular media (For examples, see commentary below from The Guardian, NPR, and The Washington Post) so obviously other people are asking the same questions at public libraries across the country.

To the public, libraries often are believed to be only warehouses of books, documents, and other sources of information. More repositories than anything purposeful, create, innovative, or interactive. If libraries are seen as simply public attics where lots of different things can be dumped, organized, and preserved, then I can understand why the death of libraries seems imminent to many. As more and more books, documents, and other random formerly printing items are digitized and placed online, physical locations to collect, store, and retrieve these items doesn’t seem necessary. But libraries are so much more than warehouses and librarians do so much more than check out books.

Anyway, all of this and much more on the survival of libraries, librarians, and print books has been covered in newspaper, magazine, and journal articles, not forgetting lectures, podcasts, panels, campaigns, etc. The words ‘relevant’, ‘digital age’, innovate’, ‘and ‘change’ appear frequently in the titles of these articles and presentations. I’m curious why these topics has been hyped so much in the press. The way “library survival” is discussed in the media seems almost doomsday-ish. “What will happen?!?! Panic!! Disaster!!” I wonder why. Is it because of the rise of e-Books, smartphones, and other devices? Or it is because of the budget cuts that so many libraries are experiencing across the country? Or something else entirely?

From where do you think this anxiety is comes? How much is based in reality and how much is just misunderstanding of libraries and the librarian profession?

Also, fellow librarians, what do you say when you encounter naysayers of the future of libraries? Have you developed an automatic response after hearing these questions so often?

Library and Librarian Positive Reads:

Who Needs a Librarians When You Have Google?

Neil Gaiman’s Why Our Future Depends on Librarians, Reading, and Daydreaming

The Digital Age is Forcing Libraries to Change. Here’s What That Looks Like.

What Can Libraries Do To Survive in the Digital Age?

Twin Cities Libraries Innovate to Stay Relevant in the Digital Age

Kansas City Public Library Missouri!

2013-11-07