Wayne State University, School of Information Sciences, awarded me its Master of Library and Information Science degree the other day. So, I'm officially a librarian. Without a library (other than my own private library).
I'm all for moving on, except for the circumstances of my life requiring my presence at home, and except for the comfort I feel in being a student, and the sadness and trepidation at leaving school behind to pursue whatever happens next. All too eager to involve myself in new intellectual pursuits, I have set myself lofty goals in terms of pages read and written ... and I'm way behind. Sick babies and lots of appointments for them and other sick family members have a lot to do with that. Parenting is not one of my stronger suits, and neither is being supportive when problems resist solution. I don't like powerlessness. I don't like unpredictability. But I'm learning to deal with it. Graduation is, as always, a time of transition and an opportunity to grow into new aspects, new responsibilities. Even outside of the job-search-to-come, that is an apt description for what is happening now. I have much work to do if I want to make the most of it.
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One more little paper to go, and I've completed all my work toward my Master's in Library and Information Science. In the meantime, a new month brings a new, post-academic reading plan. I've decided to pursue long-term reading projects on racism and gender/sexuality to try to figure out my place as a natural member of the dominant group who wishes to help break up his group's dominance. Does that make sense? Also, continuing with my explorations into surrealism, adolescent development, and the novels of A. S. King. Also, continuing to read books on addiction and recovery, because my life depends upon it. I have multiple spreadsheets detailing how this should all play out, along with a flexibility that will keep me from cracking when I don't stay 100% on track.
Anyway, not much specifically library stuff going on here, but I will be recording my thoughts about what I'm reading. When something library-related does happen, I'll let you know about that, too. Thanks for joining me. I haven't been here in a while (not that anyone asked). My youngest daughter (Calliope) was born February 5, two days before Ellowyn's first birthday. I'm in my final semester at Wayne State. Life is chaos with a thin veneer of order, full of cracks that make the chaos visible.
Still, I'm enjoying my classes. In YA Lit, I'm writing two papers on A. S. King, and in the course of that, I've had the good fortune to talk (virtually) with the author herself. In Creative Writing (which won't count toward the MLIS), I am currently writing a scene from a play in which Body and Soul (specifically mandated for this assignment, but I call them Mr. Corpus and Mr. Specter) have a wedding planning business and have a conversation about the floral arrangements for a wedding. It's fun, and creatively satisfying. I've made a start in seeking employment. Had a really good interview with an admirable system, but it was part-time and nonprofessional and over an hour commute. I will get back to that when my head is reasonably well above water. I would love to start the Disrupting Whiteness project, but I don't see that happening for a while. I can't pretend I'm anything but barely holding on, though. I will keep patching over the cracks so the chaos doesn't overwhelm me. Dear mostly fictitious reader, I'm tired. In March 2021, I will turn 50 years old, which is enough to make anyone feel exhausted. Also in March, we are expecting another baby, barely a year since Ellowyn--the infant girl sitting on my lap as I type this, one-handed--was born. That's about halfway through my long-awaited final semester of library school. If I can get through it all, I will hold a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science in May. Around that time, I hope to start a new, full-time, salaried job.
So much riding on it. But in addition to being tired at the moment, I am also excited. The surprises in store for me raising two infant girls will certainly keep me on my toes. The classes I am taking in the Winter will be thoroughly enjoyable (Young Adult Literature and an undergrad creative writing class as a bonus). And the opportunity to get back into the public library and provide service and programming and materials to patrons once more will be deeply satisfying, quarantine or no. For me, 2021 has the potential to be a culmination of years of wandering, working, studying, creating. A new beginning. Yet another, but one in a class by itself. It sounds like I'm expecting a baby, but no. I recently finished a marketing course for library school, in which I earned an A, and have nine months--two semesters--before I graduate with my Masters in Library and Information Science! This is good news. There are still a few things which could derail the whole plan, though, so I need to be cautious while still giving myself credit where it's due. This is the third time I've gone for an advanced degree, and the closest I've come to earning one. This is also the first post on this neglected blog since I quit my job at the local library. It's been a while. Everything is more or less fine, thanks. How are you?
This is a comment I threw together for a discussion board in my Public Libraries class. Don't know how true I think it is, but it's worth sharing. If I'm way off, feel free to tell me. Topic for Module 1: Factors supporting public libraries Libraries generally suffer from a PR problem that places them in a more precarious position than when the movement was young and growing. Libraries are often pegged as nothing more than quiet study spaces, book repositories, antiquated resources for information much inferior to the Internet, and sources for free DVD “rental.” This isn’t the case in every community, but I believe it’s fairly common outside of the library profession and the relative handful of regular users. Many of the external factors that would otherwise support libraries fail to penetrate these misconceptions, and every library that has successfully changed its reputation has had to work very hard against these misconceptions.
The economic situation for libraries was far different in the 19th century than it is today. The country was still more rural than urban, taxation on all levels was very low compared to today, and the public library was relatively new and exciting. “Captains of industry” gave to libraries, whereas modern tech billionaires and others with money today give more to schools and politics. In rural Van Buren County, there are many towns and villages that are struggling economically, and there is no Andrew Carnegie looking out for them. Having an awesome public library is not, I think, a point of pride anymore for most communities. We tend to be seen as old-fashioned, and most communities don’t want to be seen that way. There are plenty of opportunities to change this, but it will take a lot of work and patience. On the other hand, scholarship, conservation, and local pride combine to lend support to one library service: local history/ genealogy, which has a small but loyal base of users. The focus of public resources in support of universal public education tends to be the schools these days, to the exclusion of public libraries, although that doesn't help school libraries. There is often a disconnect between the school library and public library, which presents another problem and/or an opportunity. I have seen quite a few parents who opt for homeschooling making extensive use of our public library. Self-education is alive and well in free computer classes for seniors and some other programming, but many of the cultural programs designed for younger and middle-aged crowds tend not to do well in my area. Vocational influence offers another opportunity for improvement. There is a lack of programming aimed at helping blue-collar working people. Even factory employment these days often requires basic computer skills. Increasingly, working people have to go online to apply for jobs, follow up on applications, check schedules, and retrieve paystubs. Although the younger ones among them have been exposed to computers in grade school, older working people are often at sea, technologically. There is a need for support of both employed and unemployed working-class people that often goes unfulfilled. Vocational focus could work in favor of public libraries with an increase of attention and marketing. The relationship between these factors and the success of libraries is also complicated by the change in basic assumptions over the decades. Libraries generally no longer emphasize Americanizing immigrants as much as providing collections that strengthen connection to their culture while helping them navigate the American bureaucratic structures. We also no longer prescribe “good” literature for moral uplift, but often instead focus on providing popular material and diverse literature for underrepresented groups. This impacts the effect of the self-education factor as well as the religious factor. (Here's where I get into some sweeping and frankly unfair generalities for the sake of time and space and the aesthetics of rhetoric. There may be more exceptions than adherents to the "rules" that I seem to indicate here. There is a vast and growing Christian Left that stands for diversity and inclusion. If the following offends, I apologize. I couldn't resist a few choice words at the end.) Middle-class White Anglo-Saxon Protestants were once inspired by their religion to use public libraries to tame the heathen and savage foreigner. Today, they are too frequently inspired by their religion and morality to oppose collections and programming that support disaffected young people, LGBTQ people, and other vulnerable populations. When I was a teenager and a twenty-something, I learned about androgyny from David Bowie. When I studied literature, I learned about androgyny from Margaret Fuller, Carl Jung, Adrienne Rich, and beyond. Gender fluidity was the special mark of Decadents of all shapes, sizes, cultures, and eras. Morality turned on its head by late 19th-century literary rebels, artists, drag queens, punks, activists. Despite being a male in a female-dominated profession, despite what I have heard about the “queer-friendly” nature of libraries, I never expected to see androgyny in Library School. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I was assigned to read Ayman and Korabik’s “Leadership: Why Gender and Culture Matter” (2010) and discovered the concept of androgyny in leadership. Before I go on, I’m going to lay out several assumptions so that I don’t get mired down in attempting to prove basic points.
Male and female leaders both have access to instrumental and expressive traits. Some research has found, in fact, that women in leadership positions already have a grasp of the instrumental approach. Men lag behind in the process of broadening their leadership skill sets. As Gartzia and van Engen state, “men generally show lower scores in expressiveness than women whereas women do not show lower scores on instrumentality than men” (2012, p. 297). At the same time, as definitions of leadership and workplace methods and expectations have evolved, expressive traits have become just as essential to organizational effectiveness as instrumental traits (Gartzia & van Engen, 2012, p. 292-293). There are two points that I extract from this. One is that any residual resistance to women in leadership positions is an artifact of obsolete modes of thinking and of fear. According to Ayman and Korabik’s research, “women leaders are viewed as being less effective when they are in male-dominated settings or leadership roles that are defined as more masculine” (2010, p. 159). However, objective measures show women to be more prepared for leadership than men. Men’s perception otherwise is irrational and counterproductive. Society’s conscious acknowledgement of the fact of gender equality and the equal valuation of stereotypical gendered traits as skill sets independent of biological sex go hand in hand. Opportunities for women to thrive in power positions is one obvious benefit. Ayman and Korabik make an interesting point about this: Overall, a trend has been observed in which androgynous individuals have the same chance as masculine individuals to be identified as leaders … These findings are encouraging for women’s leadership prospects. Androgyny may offer women a way out of the double bind they are put in when they are expected to have the instrumental qualities that are associated with leadership ability but also the expressive qualities associated with their prescribed gender role. In this formulation, gender bias still operates: the use of the expressive skill set allows women not to rub their male subordinates the wrong way, so that their instrumental skills are more palatable. That message hits a sore spot for me, though. The point of androgyny in leadership is that modern organizational success requires both “masculine” and “feminine” traits. When traits ascribed to both genders are acknowledged to be equal in value, I would hope that that represents a giant step toward an acknowledgement that all people are equal in value regardless of gender. In this scenario, women would be given their due because they employ all of the relevant skill sets, not because their behavior somehow matches their reproductive organs. The second point is that men have as much to gain from this evolution as women. As Gartzia and van Engen point out, “a particular aspect to take into account when promoting communal leadership dimensions in the practice is the need to reduce gender stereotypes and the resistance of men in the development of expressive traits” (2012, p. 306). Reduction of stereotypical thinking translates into a greater acceptance of more relationship-based modes of being. This has positive implications for men as leaders, as employees, and simply as human beings. The less credence given to traditional ways of classifying men and women, the better off we will all be. Androgyny represents a way of tapping into human potential by utilizing the full range of tools available to human beings, regardless of cultural prescriptions. As much as it offers women a chance to “legitimize” their attainment of authority, it offers everyone, of all sexes and genders, something much more essential. References Ayman, R. & Korabik, K. (2010). Leadership: Why gender and culture matter. American psychologist, 65(3), p. 157-170. Gartzia, L. & van Engen, M. (2012). Are (male) leaders “feminine” enough? Gendered traits of identity as mediators of sex differences in leadership styles. Gender in management, 27(5), p. 292-310. DOI: 10.1108/17542411211252624 I was advised today to make myself unique, differentiate myself if I want to eventually work full-time in the library field. Asante Cain, Reference and Adult Services Coordinator at Grand Rapids Public Library, was very generous with his time this afternoon. (I'm not looking for a new job, I assure you--I'm just trying to understand the operations of a large urban library system for a school assignment.) In the course of talking about the hiring process at GRPL, Asante advised me to be personable and inquisitive and interested in everything my bosses are doing just as a matter of course, as opposed to turning on the "charm" when opportunities for advancement manifest. Good advice. A list of things I want to try to do:
A list of things coming up:
Tuesday Nov. 8 And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born? (W.B. Yeats) Armageddon is no excuse for falling behind.
The 2016 Michigan Library Association Annual Conference was a huge success ... But, what does that mean? The immediate translation is I now have even more ideas than I have time and other resources to implement. Ideas are storming the gate, crowding the exit, rushing the stage. Between that and the upcoming election, my mental bouncers will have to work overtime to sort everything out.
For now, I just want to bookmark The Harwood Institute and Libraries Transforming Communities, and make a note to compile a list of local civic and business groups and people at the local school I want to contact. Then, I can start working on specifics, projects, ways to approach, funding sources, etc., and put them all in a report/proposal for my Director. Need to compile a list of new ideas for the Marketing Workgroup, too. So many ideas. Then, I need to slow down, breathe, meditate, get back to schoolwork so I can be a real librarian someday ... If I'm going to get one thing done today, it's finding and reading the four resources I need on the core functions and structural components of rural and urban libraries. Except that I'm not sure what I'm doing there, or what I need for that project. Taking action, however uncertain, is sometimes preferable to doing nothing, however. I also need to do laundry and figure out how to accomplish everything I need to do in preparation for the big debut of the Teen Writers Journey to Publication Skype network on Tuesday ... and prep my presentation for the MLA conference SOUP competition next week ... I do not have enough time for everything. I have even less time if I devote time to panicking. I need to organize. I need to manage stress. I need to go.
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AuthorJeffrey Babbitt, MLIS, is a graduate of the School of Library and Information Science at Wayne State University who is pursuing a career as a librarian in Michigan. Subject Headings
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June 2021
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