As my first semester as an Academic Librarian draws to a close this holiday season, I was assured that December is a time to finally take a deep breath as meetings slow down. Maybe it could be a time to catch up on the scholarship you’ve been putting off, or read through the listserv emails … Continue reading "Liaison Librarianship: A Trial By Fire (and 5 Takeaways)"

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If you were to walk into any university library during the last week of finals, some things are slowing down, while others remain. The thick air of stress, anxiety, and dread is slowly dissipating as more and more students depart for the winter break. Outside the reading rooms and study spaces, however, things are barely … Continue reading "No Librarian is an Island"

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It’s time for a break, to be—as Spirit of the West sings—home for a rest! I’m in the final week of our Fall term, with a two-week break to look forward to. I don’t know about you, but I always feel ready for an extended time off at this time of year. With my collections … Continue reading "Home For a Rest"

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It’s finals week at my university, and naturally that leads to reflection on the semester that has just passed us by. I have learned, time and time again, that I do some of my best processing by writing about it. So let’s just come right out and say it: this has been an incredibly hard … Continue reading "A Tough Semester’s Reflection"

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This time of year, at my university, and perhaps at yours as well, we are preparing to submit documentation for our annual performance reviews. As I get my activity reports ready for my first cycle in this process, I can’t shake an idea surrounding the nature of academic evaluation. From report cards in elementary school … Continue reading "Celebrating our interconnectedness in the season of annual reviews"

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One of the many hats I wear in my role involves covering LabNEXT at the University of Calgary, the library’s Makerspace. A Makerspace, also referred to as a Maker Studio, Fab Lab, Tech Shop, or Hackerspace, is a dedicated space in the library for hands-on access to technologies for DIY making and collaboration. In our … Continue reading "Learning Through Play: The Importance of Library Makerspaces"

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Interested in writing for ACRLog? We’re looking for a few new bloggers to join our team!  We aim to have a group of bloggers who represent diverse perspectives on and career stages in academic librarianship. We are especially seeking librarians interested in writing about technical services, scholarly communication, technology, and related areas and/or those working … Continue reading "Join the ACRLog Blog Team! "

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This post serves two purposes – promotion of a new curriculum that launched this fall aimed at supporting LIS professionals in developing their research skills and a chance for me to reflect on some takeaways I had from launching a big (IMLS funded) project.  In 2017, I helped start The Librarian Parlor, LibParlor for short. … Continue reading "LibParlor Online Learning is live(!) & takeaways from launching a big project"

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I knew this moment would come, but I didn’t expect it to come as soon as it did. Until that moment, I had begun to settle into my first semester as an instruction librarian, my ease growing as the content I taught introducing our library’s resources, databases, and basic research and information literacy strategies to … Continue reading "The Trap of Knowing"

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Faster pace, faster burnout Before I decided to become a librarian, I spent a few years living in a remote area of Northern California. The tiny economy in this coastal redwood town necessitated that I employ myself through a combination of part-time jobs, one of which was working in the restaurant of a small, family-owned … Continue reading "On building the capacity to find rest."

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Editor’s Note: This guest post has been authored by Alejandro Marquez (Science and Engineering Librarian at the University of Denver Libraries) and Brady Niemitalo Woods (Patron Training Specialist at Jefferson County Public Library, Colorado). The fall semester started recently, marking the beginning of a new school year. Imagine a new student at a college or … Continue reading "Library Patron Loneliness: Strategies for Building Community and Connection"

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I am so tired of waiting.Aren’t you,For the world to become goodAnd beautiful and kind?Let us take a knife And cut the world in two—And see what worms are eatingAt the rind.Langston Hughes, “Tired” To my American colleagues, I am anxious for your future. Who knows what will happen to post-secondary education under the new … Continue reading "Tired"

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As I sit here in the deep dread and horror of the U.S. results we woke up to, literally fighting the urge to throw up, I am thinking about the National Archives. Why? U.S. Archivist, Colleen Shogan, appointed by President Biden, is a textbook example of obeying in advance. She has “sought to de-emphasize negative … Continue reading "Do not obey in advance"

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Editor’s Note: This guest post has been authored by Shaharima Parvin (Senior Assistant Librarian at East West University in Dhaka, Bangladesh) and Md. Abdul Latif (Assistant Librarian at East West University in Dhaka, Bangladesh). Libraries have always been the centers of knowledge and community. With the advancement of technology, changes in libraries should also occur … Continue reading "IoT in Bangladesh Libraries: A Path to Transformation"

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Editor’s Note: Please join us in welcoming Brianna Calomino, Digital Projects Librarian at the University of Calgary, as a new First Year Academic Librarian Experience blogger for the 2024-2025 year here at ACRLog. As International Open Access Week 2024 comes to a close, I’m faced again with reflections on why switching to Open Access (OA) … Continue reading "Open Access: It’s Not Just a Nice Thing to Do"

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Editor’s Note: Please join us in welcoming Jonathan Rowe, Associate Instruction Services Librarian at Boston College, as a new First Year Academic Librarian Experience blogger for the 2024-2025 year here at ACRLog. As Brat Summer ends, we are entering what my spouse likes to call “Irish Autumn,” a season they say has fading sunshine, ever-growing … Continue reading "Approaching First-year Library Instruction in an Election Season"

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Editor’s Note: Please join us in welcoming Heidi Yarger, Health Sciences Librarian at Baylor University, as a new First Year Academic Librarian Experience blogger for the 2024-2025 year here at ACRLog. In the spring of 2021, I was lucky enough to be one of four M.A. students accepted into Indiana University’s Folklore & Ethnomusicology Department. … Continue reading "Information Literacy Beyond Fact-Checking"

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Back in March, I wrote about my experiences chairing a double search committee. I ended that blog post with questions around onboarding and what happens after a hire is successful. I’m happy to report our two searches were successful and our new folks started this summer. Now that our new departmental colleagues are settled, I … Continue reading "Lessons learned from onboarding new colleagues"

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Editor’s Note: This guest post has been authored by Amber Pierdinock-Weed. Amber is the Teaching and Learning Librarian at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she works closely with the First-Year Writing Program and Learning Living Communities on campus. In June 2023, I started a position as a Teaching and Learning Librarian at the … Continue reading "What to Do When You’ve Been Approached for a Potential Partnership"

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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about mindset and attitude. For starters, I’ve taken on an interim position at another campus within my institution this year while continuing to manage my ongoing position. So I’ve had one foot in that “new job” space, more or less, working in a new context and getting to know … Continue reading "On being open to being open"

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