I wanted to put a tin hat on this blog (I have been watching old Doctor Who, sorry) and thought to revisit the Infinite Learning module and professional development experiences. I had two takeaways.
One is that we ought to reflect on that information which we personally have in depth and could be shared with other librarians and information professionals. So, for instance, I know some things about IT, but I am often unsure how much detail people want into how things work. One clue for me is Learning 2.0 participants cited they “better understand IT speak” (Stephens, 2016, p. 135) after training. Perhaps it would be helpful to demystify some of the IT jargon. I wonder what terms are most opaque? Perhaps there are problems with overloaded vocabulary terms where IT and libraries have different ideas about what constitutes a database, for instance? Another clue is that training should focus on “practical implementation of new tools and services” (2016, p. 142).
My other takeaway was the idea to generate a conference report even if nobody asks for one (2019, p. 57). This is part of what the Inspiration Report was for me. I reviewed my notes and presentations from the IDEA Institute on AI in 2024 to prepare the report. The conference was information dense and gave me an overview such that, as above, I could better understand the vocabulary.
The question I am left with now is the same after a conference. How to sustain the momentum? I think ultimately professional learning has to be integrated into daily work. There are times when we need to step back and attend a conference, but I agree we need to cultivate a “culture of learning all year long” (2016, p. 141). Creative outputs, like the Inspiration Report, are also one way to sustain curiosity, provided we are afforded the time. In retrospect, I am grateful to the managers who gave me the opportunity to follow my professional curiosity at work, since I suppose it led me here.
References
Stephens, M. T. (2016). The heart of librarianship: Attentive, positive, and purposeful change. ALA Editions.
Stephens, M. T. (2019). Wholehearted librarianship: Finding hope, inspiration, and balance. ALA Editions.
Image Credits
“2000s Visualization” by NASSA Graphics and Visualization Lab (GVIS)