I am ACRL Member of the Week

Caring, humorous, scholarly.

I like listening to stand-up comedians and music of all kinds. I tend to mostly read non-fiction with some poetry thrown in. Currently reading on my Kindle: "In Defense of Troublemakers: the Power of Dissent in Life and Business" by Charlan Nemeth and "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I’m also currently perusing a library book I checked out entitled: "A Heiner Müller Reader: Plays, Poetry, Prose" . I just finished reading a biography of the eccentric genius pianist, Glenn Gould.

Advocacy, support, guidance.

I value the wide and varied support ACRL provides the profession of academic librarianship for essential aspects of our work such as: shared guidelines of professional practice, materials and guidance to advocate for important issues such as open access, awards that encourage and recognize achievement of our members, and conferences that are substantial in content.

As Collection Management Librarian for the Social Sciences, I am dedicated to connecting to the academic needs of our faculty and students across campus, through daily interactions, class instruction, research consultations, committee participation, and workshops. I advocate for a library collection of excellence in full support of the curricular and research of the university that corresponds well to the excellence of all our library services. I feel I contribute to the university valuing our library faculty as significant members of our university community and important contributors to the advancement of scholarship in general.

We have an important job as academic librarians. We are at the center of the university providing resources, guidance and support for the curricula and research of the faculty and students. We are vital to the very success of the core mission of our university. Our libraries provide much more than that as well, of course, such as a safe and invited place to study, technologies to enhance and deliver project creations, and venues for diverse cultural life. But, after all the talk of new roles and visions for academic librarians, we can always take pride in our perennial and important role as guides and guardians of the advancement of knowledge. We also have a great time doing it.