Comments on: Librarians as __________: Shapeshifting at the periphery.

By: What’s in a name? « Reel Librarians

What’s in a name? « Reel Librarians — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:07:16 +0000

[...] Librarians as __________: Shapeshifting at the periphery. (inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org) [...]

By: Librarians as __________: Shapeshifting at the periphery. « Alabama Library Expo

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:53:15 +0000

[...] Source: char booth [...]

By: lynn

lynn — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:37:34 +0000

Thanks for the clarification, the distinction makes a lot of sense! My position is a new one, but rather than finding/making my place within the library, my biggest worry moving into the field is how I can clearly and positively represent my library to my campus. I took the position betting on both the internal and external perception of libraries to solidify and grow in a positive direction, so my fingers are crossed! It seems like such an important time, and an exciting one to be sure.

Thanks again!

By: Diane Cordell

Diane Cordell — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:17:48 +0000

One man’s bolt is another man’s jewelry.

By: char

char — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:08:05 +0000

I love it, totally – although now I’m imagining us all with prosthetic bolts coming out of our temples…

By: char

char — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:06:38 +0000

Hey again, Emily – sorry for the delay on your sharp comment, super irritating eye infection has had me down, sigh. Re: student v. librarian, god willing there will never be such a line! I definitely didn’t mean to suggest that headfirst participation isn’t a good strategy if that’s what moves you or that you should ever shoot for anything BUT deep and meaningful, just that the better you know a community the more strategically you can librarian to them. And that situated learning is definitely a process, which in my case started with some observational behavior. In the Castellathon event, I was really just getting to know most of them as individuals and finding my productive footing by virtue of being comparatively new to the discipline, so was in natural semi-absorption mode. This orientation can/will change as I become more rooted in their community… in the NGTL panel, for example, I asserted myself in a more “wild/deep” (albeit moderatory) way. For me, negotiating the periphery is a rolling target based on the situation, if you know what I mean – Emily D.’s kairos idea comes to mind, or plain old manners. Shapeshifting doesn’t = hanging back, so no checking (necessarily) required!

By: Cindy

Cindy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:34:43 +0000

Lyn….

You may be a newbie, but I think you are spot on! We have been talking about “reinventing” ourselves for as long as I have been in the profession (16 years). And yet I don’t believe that we will really change what we do. Sure the facilities, technology and approach changes, that is a gimme…but what else? Ultimately its how we sell ourselves. And what frustrates me most is we talk about it to death, but have yet to come to any firm conclusions.

By: Diane Cordell

Diane Cordell — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:23:28 +0000

Hi, Char!

Re. Librarian as Frankenstein: I was first thinking of a patchwork quilt, but that’s inorganic. Visualize a new creature, composed of parts taken from all the professions we’ve mentioned…considered a monster by some but, by others, a new creature entirely!

By: char

char — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:42:05 +0000

Smart comment, Lynn, and I totally agree that librarian as ______ analogizing is an important articulation strategy. I observe (and note here and there in the post) that this tends to occur mostly internally, as in how we describe the innovative work we are doing to each other rather than to our constituents. I used the situated participation analogy to advocate that much of external work of redefinition is done when we actually interact with our communities in innovative, value-added ways that help us discover/demonstrate new affordances, which we can then articulate/analogize to our hearts’ content in the professional discourse. I think that it is largely in this on-the-ground (or in-the-cloud) interaction that we make our peripheral support strategies more central… in my mind, peripheral by no means equals invisible, although I totally see where you’re coming from.

PS – Welcome to the fold!

By: char

char — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:28:33 +0000

My pleasure, Angie… the librarians are not what they seem.