Past and Present
I am a graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science degree program at the University of Washington’s Information School. I have worked in several academic libraries of varying size. They are Hurst Library at Northwest University, Wilson Library at Western Washington University, and Suzzallo and Allen Libraries at the University of Washington. I have worked mainly in User and Reference Services divisions in positions as an undergraduate student assistant, full time circulation coordinator, a graduate student reference specialist, a graduate staff assistant for educational outreach services, and currently as the User Services Librarian at Hurst Library.
Future
I am interested in the interactions that library users have with technology as well as with their utilization of the library as a place of gathering, study, and reflection. I believe in making online interactions more intuitive and streamlined, working in line with current web practices, while keeping an eye toward innovative practices and tools. Ultimately what I plan to be about in the library profession is enabling people to find and utilize the information they are seeking, whether they visit the library building or utilize resources online or at a distance. I hope to meet these goals by working in reference and user services, information literacy and instruction, and by contributing to the systems and technology side of library operations and services.
The genesis of an idea
librarylimbo.net started as an exercise learning about and engaging with Library 2.0 tools, exploring how they could be used in an academic library setting. I began envisioning this site some time after that. Several of the personal learning goals I laid out around that time included becoming familiar with content management systems (CMS), exploring open source integrated library systems (ILS), and keeping abreast of the current and future trends in technology and services which will shape libraries for years to come. I started this site using Joomla but switched to Drupal early on, and am now on to WordPrss. I am still exploring and trying to keep up!
Why ‘librarylimbo’?
As we move from where libraries have traditionally been to where we need to go, we must hold on to the good things of the profession, while letting go of the old habits and mindsets that may not serve well in the future. Then, we can grab hold of new resources, technologies, and ways of doing things to create new services to meet the needs of a society inundated with information, pressed for time, and always in a hurry. Combine a high level of expectation from a tech-savvy culture with information created, used, and lost in the digital landscape. This means we have plenty of exciting and important work with which to keep engaged for a lifetime of fruitful exploration, discovery, and service.