Memory of Purpose

Science and Technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response. Expelled from individual consciousness by the rush of change, history finds its revenge by stamping the collective unconscious with habits, values, expectations, dreams. The dialectic between past and future will continue to form our lives (Schlesinger, AM 1986)

Have Librarians got so caught up in 'doing' that they have forgotten that they are here to support learning? Our job is to support our learners in their learning. We are not a book deposit. We are not what we think a Library should be. We are what our learners need us to be.

Why does the future generation of learners need to understand the Dewey Decimal system when they will all be reading and using digital content? Are we actually helping people get the information they need (even if it is on Wikipedia) and supporting knowledge creation? People need help understanding formats, platforms, software, web applications and digital rights management, not just how to find a book or a peer reviewed journal article on a topic. My patrons need to know how to live in the real world, not in the Library. 

If our learners need a space for study, we provide a space for study. If our learners need textbooks, we provide textbooks. If our learners need advice on appropriate software for their needs, we provide advice on appropriate software for their needs. If our learners need someone to tell them how to hack an epub reader, we tell them how to hack an epub reader.... Don't we? If not, why not?... Particularly if the reason they need to hack the epub reader is to get a pdf version for text analysis. They are not going to share the pdf, or sell it, or plagiarise it. They just want to analyse and create their own, new knowledge from it.

Why are librarians not all committed to copyright reform, when they and their community are unfairly limited by copyright law everyday? What are librarians prepared to do in the fight for access to information for knowledge creation? What about supporting alternative voices to balance the discourse hegemony? What about publication advice, safe data storage? Who is questioning the academic peer review process? Who is gate keeping and who is sharing?

Why are libraries expected to be museums of knowledge? Outdated and rarely used items should be archived, not be kept on ugly shelves in useful public space. This does not mean I advocate for the destruction of books. I advocate for the archiving of everything ever published in state and or private collections, but not in our learners' spaces. Our learners want to pass their course and learn useful skills, not be able to find a long lost tome on the shelves.

I do not wish for the death of the book, merely that we re-look at our purpose, rather than keeping doing what we have always done. The days of 'browsing the shelves' is dead. A small regional uni library cannot support every academic's or librarian's dream for shelves of unused collections, collecting dust. Our importance is in our purpose, not in maintaining our view of ourselves and the "library" of the past.

References

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. 1986, "The Challenge of Change," New York Times Magazine, July 27, 1986. Viewed 19th May 2015, from http://quotes.dictionary.com/Science_and_Technology_revolutionize_our_lives_but_memory

The CV Tool or "I am a tool"

As part of identifying my previous learning, I was asked to fill in a spreadsheet with items/experiences from my CV, along with what I did, what I learned. Then I was asked to label each ‘what I learned’ with a learning area in order to look for gaps in my professional learning profile. We were given an example table, and a diagram with learning areas on it.

It was really hard. I did not expect it to be so difficult.

First obstacle: spreadsheets

Personally, I find reading spreadsheets very difficult. It is if all the lines turn into the same one and I can’t sort one column or row from the next column or row. The columns in this case were actually alright because they were colour coded. But trying to fit things into a spreadsheet after thinking on them over and over meant much shuffling things around and adding new rows and that took up much of my concentration.

Second obstacle: identifying what I learned, rather than what I “did for the first time”

An example goes something like this: “I learned to use Camtasia. No, I learned to play with software. No, actually I learned I can play with software without breaking it. I learned to fiddle with confidence.” Ahem…

Third obstacle: facing the truth

The truth is, that with all my personal potential, all my gifts and abilities, I cannot organise myself out of a paper bag. My work processes, information management, and productivity are all disorderly (at best). If I am to really address these issues, it is going to feel like rolling in croutons for crumbs in my bed. My partner used that expression when I showed him my learning objectives, and it was absolutely actually the right expression to articulate my discomfort.

Reflections

Now that I am through it, it seems like it wasn't so bad, really…

The biggest thing I noticed while doing this, is just how little of my personal learning has actually been from my ‘work history’ or professional accomplishments, and exactly how much has come out of just being-Tegan-in-the-world.

My point of professional difference comes from my life experience, not from what I have done or learned in my ‘career’. Also, very little of my knowledge comes from what I learned in Library School. Most of my knowledge comes from what I have sought out for myself, or have been generally puzzled by.

As it turns out, flunking high school, unplanned pregnancy and my colourful mental health record may be what sets me apart from the average librarian. Maybe.

"Struck" reading Corlett

This is not an academic blog post, but perhaps a more meaningful one.
Whilst reading about the importance of research data as a tool for self-reflexive practice I found myself thinking of a recent workplace experience.

In this particular situation, a group of information professionals were given recommendations based on the analysis of data accumulated through 1-1 interviews and a number of group workshops. One recommendation that came out of this analysis was that the group need to shift their thinking around delivering information services, particularly around information literacy.

The data indicated that the group had consistently referred to information literacy within the context of on-campus classes and physical presence. With a vast majority of students enrolled at the institution studying off-campus or completely online, the recommendation was that the group needed to address their ways of thinking about delivering and marketing services and resources to be more in line with the realities of the student cohort. On receiving this recommendation, there were cries of, “but I don’t actually spend more time on on-campus students” and “but that doesn’t seem to reflect what we actually do” and other similar comments. This was a perfect moment for reflexive learning. Whether or not as professionals we believe that we address the off-campus and online cohort sufficiently, the data showed that our ‘way of thinking’ about information literacy service delivery was not in line with the current reality of students’ needs.

Although unaware how to articulate my feeling of it at the time, I had a personal experience of being “struck”. Corlett (2013) develps the idea that the uncomfortable moments within a research interview provide moments for reflexivity where subjects can consciously consider their own behaviours and ways of thinking and learning. Corlett (2013, p.457) states that, “the physiological, emotional or cognitive sense of being ‘struck’ is key to critical self-reflexivity and learning because it moves us to question our ways of understanding and being”. This articulates perfectly what happened within my own thoughts in this moment.

In that moment I identified that my beliefs around my own ways of thinking were not reflected in the data. The data revealed that my own patterns of behaviour and thinking were, in fact, out of sync with what I had believed them to be.

Perhaps there is something in this for further development within the information profession.

References:
Corlett, S 2013, Participant learning in and through research as reflexive dialogue: Being ‘struck’ and   the effects of recall, Management Learning, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 453 –469.

Reflections on Illeris

Illeris, in A model for learning in working life (2004) states that it is in the interaction between work practice and work identity that the most important factors for workplace learning take place. He emphasizes a holistic model, in which there can be no individual learning in isolation from the social context in which learning takes place. It is in this interplay that, as a Library professional, I can see potential for investigation.

In A Comprehensive model of human learning, Illeris (2009) states that for youth, who are in a stage of identity development, learning initiatives must be "subjectively accepted as a usable contribution to the present demands of the identity process". I would suggest that this applies to a much wider demographic than in youth, and that the development of identity is a lifelong development process.

This leaves me with the questions: 

Does our social and collective professional identity inhibit or promote a change in practice? What are the key differences between generations of librarians in regards to both workplace identity and working practice, and how does this affect an individual's attitudes and actions in relation to workplace learning? How do we create environments, social contexts and learning initiatives that have the potential to alter or shift existing individual workplace identities?

How is my own professional identity related to my behaviour and to my work-based learning?

List of References

Illeris, K. 2004, A model for learning in working life, Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 16 Iss: 8, pp.431 - 441


Illeris, K. 2009, A Comprehensive model of human learning, in Contemporary Theories of Learning: Learning Theorists... In Their Own Words, Routledge, London.