Staying Engaged as a Mid-Career Instruction Librarian
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Session One Breakouts
Abstract
How do we continue to grow professionally as instruction librarians if we don’t want to move into management? What strategies do we use to sustain ourselves to avoid burnout? How do we deal with constant change and unexpected events such as COVID-19? There’s lots of advice out there for librarians looking to become administrators, but what about the rest of us?
Often management is mentioned as the only path for the mid-career librarian, but not everyone is interested in or capable of pursuing these positions. This presentation will offer strategies and practical advice for navigating mid-career based on the personal experiences of two Instruction Librarians. Suggestions include taking advantage of opportunities such as teaching courses as an adjunct, mentoring fellow librarians, making lateral transfers, staying active in professional associations, presenting and writing articles and participating in research and programming grants.
Instruction librarians can be engaged leaders by mentoring a new generation of librarians, helping them navigate the tenure and promotion process. They can also take advantage of opportunities such as teaching university courses as adjunct faculty to stay up-to-date with current technology (i.e. Microsoft Teams) in online instruction – essential in this era of COVID-19. Taking advantage of lateral transfers can further your expertise in the library field. Staying active as a librarian includes involvement in professional associations and continuing to present and write professionally, including research and programming grants. For example, research grants can provide opportunities to study information literacy and programming grants can promote literacy in community.
Presentation Description
Often management is mentioned as the only path for the mid-career librarian, but not everyone is interested in or capable of pursuing these positions. This presentation will offer strategies and practical advice for navigating mid-career based on the personal experiences of two Instruction Librarians. Suggestions include taking advantage of opportunities such as teaching courses as an adjunct, mentoring fellow librarians, making lateral transfers, staying active in professional associations, presenting and writing articles and participating in research and programming grants.
Keywords
academic, librarian, mid-career, career engagement, instruction, leadership, mentoring, grant-writing, teaching, literacy
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Martin, Alyssa and West, Debbie, "Staying Engaged as a Mid-Career Instruction Librarian" (2021). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 3.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2021/2021/3
Staying Engaged as a Mid-Career Instruction Librarian
Session One Breakouts
How do we continue to grow professionally as instruction librarians if we don’t want to move into management? What strategies do we use to sustain ourselves to avoid burnout? How do we deal with constant change and unexpected events such as COVID-19? There’s lots of advice out there for librarians looking to become administrators, but what about the rest of us?
Often management is mentioned as the only path for the mid-career librarian, but not everyone is interested in or capable of pursuing these positions. This presentation will offer strategies and practical advice for navigating mid-career based on the personal experiences of two Instruction Librarians. Suggestions include taking advantage of opportunities such as teaching courses as an adjunct, mentoring fellow librarians, making lateral transfers, staying active in professional associations, presenting and writing articles and participating in research and programming grants.
Instruction librarians can be engaged leaders by mentoring a new generation of librarians, helping them navigate the tenure and promotion process. They can also take advantage of opportunities such as teaching university courses as adjunct faculty to stay up-to-date with current technology (i.e. Microsoft Teams) in online instruction – essential in this era of COVID-19. Taking advantage of lateral transfers can further your expertise in the library field. Staying active as a librarian includes involvement in professional associations and continuing to present and write professionally, including research and programming grants. For example, research grants can provide opportunities to study information literacy and programming grants can promote literacy in community.
