Library as Classroom: Humanness at the Center

Having worked in both public and academic library settings in my life, I’ve had the opportunity to see how “the classroom” looks between different kinds of library spaces. In exploring this module, and thinking about the hyperlinked library module, the Library as Classroom idea is universal at it’s core. Lifelong learning is one of those library-specific phrases that you can find in almost any library’s mission statement. We love to use it, but what does it mean? To me, lifelong or infinite learning is about understanding library users and whole human beings. They bring a wide variety of experiences and skills and perspectives to the library space, and when we think of the library as a classroom, we are thinking of it as a space for folks to engage, discover, and develop into even more multifaceted human beings.

Curtin University’s 23 Things identify five core skills that guide lifelong learning:

Curiosity – true engagement with the world

Creativity – daydreaming and wandering

Initiative – making those creative ideas happen

Multidisciplinary Thinking – use your hyperlinks: people, places, resources

Empathy – deep connections with others

Context is key for developing a Library as Classroom space. Learning opportunities in the library work best when framed by an understanding of the library’s users and what’s important to them. Helping patrons access and polish the abstract skills above will look different depending on your library and your user base.

Something that I’d like to see in my current academic library workplace is emphasis on our users as humans, not just as students or faculty. Workshops on research skills and database tips and tricks are important for their success, but the students I see studying late into the night bring with them their own experiences and skills. Especially with our regular familiar faces, I wonder: what’s your why? Where do you want your work here to take you? What are you most curious about? Asking these kinds of questions would help us understand our students and design library services that support these five core skills of lifelong learning.

Curtin University. (2026, July 27). Thing – Getting Started. 23Things. https://23things.library.curtin.edu.au/portfolio/thing-getting-started/

Thoughts While Listening to StoryCorps Podcast Episodes

1. Hearing people get choked up when telling a story always makes my own eyes burn. I am at work, wanting to blame the fluorescent lighting for the tears are welling up. A mother who had a stroke three months into her pregnancy telling her now-adult son, “The world is better for having you in it”. (A Mother’s Work).
2. Is this AI generated? Or just edited strangely? The beat of this conversation feels just a little too fast. Am I imagining it? Check the episode release date. June 2026. Definitely could be AI generated. I’m not sure what trusting digital content looks like now (What We’re Made Of).
3. Tentative conversations between those who have different political backgrounds. Both have tattoos of honoring loved ones they’ve lost in the same place. Stories must me here to remind us that there are threads that connect all of us. (Brave Enough to Ask).
4. Habits form, absorbed from those around us in our community. A woman who delicately folds and stores plastic bags for reuse just like her aunt. I just asked my partner a question like this the other day- what’s a habit you know you’ve definitely picked up from someone else? The answer: “Washing my hair before my body in the shower, because of that one time you told me it makes more sense that way. The dirt and residue from your hair runs down your body when you rinse it, so you wash your body after”. Words have impact. We are mirrors for each other. (Plastic Bags and Music Boxes).
5. These snippets of stories remind me of my sophomore year in college, attending a campus event on a whim. A man I had never heard of, Frank Warren, gave a talk on a community art project he had been running for several years called PostSecret. People mail post cards to Frank sharing secrets they’ve never shared with anyone. (More than a million secrets shared now). I left this talk floating, musing on the power of these vignettes. The psychology major in me was fascinated by the contradiction of vulnerability and anonymity. What would the world look like if this kind of vulnerability was welcomed? What if folks had a place to go where they could build relationships where these things could be shared? I have not thought of PostSecret in years. I find it again, thinking about libraries and the power of stories.
   1. My favorite PostSecret secret from this week:

References

Esty-Kendall, J. (2026, June 2). What we’re made of. [Audio podcast episode]. In The StoryCorps Podcast. StoryCorps.

Esty-Kendall, J. (2026, May 5). A mother’s work. [Audio podcast episode]. In The StoryCorps Podcast. StoryCorps.

Esty-Kendall, J. (2024, November 5). Brave enough to ask. [Audio podcast episode]. In The StoryCorps Podcast. StoryCorps.

Esty-Kendall, J. (2024, November 26). 702-706-TALK: Plastic bags and music boxes. [Audio podcast episode]. In The StoryCorps Podcast. StoryCorps.

@staciwright

ROI & Higher Education: Comprehensive Learner Records

As I currently work in a university library, for the New Horizon’s module I decided to explore the EDUCAUSE 2026 Teaching and Learning Report. Memories of my own experiences in higher education swirled around experiences I’ve had interacting with students in my current position. As I hopped around to different sections, University of Georgia’s “Comprehensive Learner Record” digital credential caught my attention.

The idea of intertwining learning experiences and traditional coursework into format that is clear and easily presented to employers- I would have loved to have had this post-graduation. Something I have learned more by trial and error than in any formal education setting is that exact process: how to blend experiences and coursework to explain to employers how these things make me a great fit for a position. The report does highlight growing concerns about returns on investment for higher education; giving students skills to record and reflect on their experiences and applying that to their goals is extremely valuable.

In my current position, I have the opportunity to work closely with student workers who help operate the circulation desk. They come from a wide variety of education backgrounds, studying political science, theater, psychology, and economics. For many, this job is a work study position that is helping them afford the increasingly expensive cost of higher education. While none have expressed any explicit desire to pursue librarianship (I recognize that I am biased and not everyone is excited about librarianship as I am) – I am also concerned that these students are unaware of how to draw connections between this work experience and their future career goals.

This CLR concept and EDUCAUSE report has inspired me to reach out to management to see if this is something we can help students with! As this CLR credential correctly identified, there are core competencies that will help students seeking employment post-graduation. Many skills honed at a circulation desk can help students regardless of the career pathway they choose: customer service, attention to detail, balancing priorities, communication skills are a few that immediately come to mind.

I think other colleges and universities would do well to take some inspiration from the University of Georgia’s CLR. Supporting students by providing quality courses and hands-on learning experiences could mean so much more if institutions also support students by giving them the skills they need to synthesize and communicate these experiences to future employers. As @michael has reminded us in this course- the ideas presented in this course can also be scalable! If it’s not possible to create a university wide digital platform for students to access and share something like a Comprehensive Learner Record, that’s okay. A university-wide culture of focusing on student needs is at the core of bringing the concept to life. The library can serve as a jumping off point for this- working with other departments to facilitate events or workshops where students can hone skills.

Robert, J., Muscanell, N., McCormack, M., & Arnold, K. (2026). 2026 EDUCAUSE Horizon report: Teaching and learning edition [Report]. https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2026/5/2026hrteachinglearning.pdf

@staciwright

In exploring the concept of hyperlinked environments, the user research from Pew section caught my attention. There is something so enticing about concrete statistics and the clear, bolded statements that accompany a Pew Research study. Whenever I see statistics in a study, article, or news clip, I am reminded of taking the required statistics class for my psychology degree – the bane of nearly every psychology major’s existence. I cannot, for the life of me, remember how to calculate p-values, but I do remember the professor challenging us to be mindful of how statistical information is presented. What was the sample size like? What are the demographics or characteristics of the participants? The context greatly influences the actual meaning of the results. Unlike headlines written to be punchy and attract views, the results of scientific inquiry can often be less black and white. Whenever I see information presented in this way, I try to think critically about what story is being told, and who benefits from that version of the story.

These research studies can help library staff, especially, to stay aware of general trends and patterns regarding information-related attitudes and behaviors. With AI coming to the forefront of people’s consciousness, “The Public Awareness of Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Activities” report (Pew Research, 2023) caught my attention. This study, a few years old, helps to illustrate that today’s AI technologies did not pop out of the ether to destroy the world, but did, in fact, evolve from AI technologies that already existed in the day-to-day life of many people.

I am in the same boat at 38% percent of Americans that could only correctly identify 3-5 of the 6 uses of AI in the study. For me- it was the “e-mail categorizing things as spam” that caught me off-guard. Perhaps this is a feature of e-mail (a technology I have used and had access to since I was a child) that I simply took for granted.

The section on concern/excitement about AI technologies hits close to home, as I have been forced to reckon with my own opinions and experiences with this technology in both an academic and professional context. Even understanding that generative AI has evolved from technologies that I happily engage with every day… for the first time I am experiencing the concern and fear that comes with rapid technological changes. I am also with the 39% of medium-awareness of AI folks that are more concerned than excited about these changes.

The content of this class and especially the lectures given by @michael help me to challenge my perspective. It certainly is not comfortable, but at the same time, I appreciate how that helps me grow as an information professional. AI tools are a part of the current hyperlinked environment that library professionals operate in. Though I have my concerns, I do agree that playing with these tools will help me better assist patrons moving forward. To that end, see below for my first ever conversation with Google’s Gemini:

Early Milestones in Artificial Intelligence: AKA Staci’s Attempt to Get Gemini To Make A Timeline of Historical Events

Pew Research Center. (2023, February 15). Public awareness of artificial intelligence in everyday activities. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/02/15/public-awareness-of-artificial-intelligence-in-everyday-activities

@staciwright

In this moment I am extremely grateful for the flexible due dates in this course, as life has taken more than one unexpected turn for me in the past few weeks. It’s a bit daunting to catch up on weeks’ worth of educational content, but watching Ciara’s Eastell’s TED Talk: “How Libraries Change Lives” helped to calm my thoughts and reminded me why I am choosing to pursue the MLIS and this career path. While donning possibly the coolest necklace I have seen in sometime, Eastell describes the library as a third space is the most succinct of ways: when you come to the library, you “cease to be a consumer, you’re here as a citizen”. I think this concept is at the core of the hyperlinked community concept. When there is no capital to be produced, money to be exchanged, what do people bring to this environment? When people scoff at the relevance of libraries, sometimes I wonder if they have forgotten how to be a citizen. Forgotten how to turn towards someone when they ask the hard questions like Eastell was asked: “when will my grief end?”

The work that I have been able to do in libraries (that I personally find to be the most meaningful) echo that interaction that Eastell describes. Helping a regular user with dementia use Google Maps to try and remember where they used to live, for example, was something I did on a semi-regular basis. At the time, I wrote the following poem while reflecting on the interaction:

This module’s content has reminded me that although I could not solve the larger mental health issues that this patron faced, I could share that time with them. The brooding tone of the poem was true to my feelings at the time; but now I can see the dual sides of the experience, too. There was no charge for internet access, no tip required for my services. Acting as a fellow citizen, I used my computer skills to help someone try to find what they were looking for.

TEDx Talks. (2019, June 13). How Libraries Change Lives | Ciara Eastell | TedxExeter [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Tvt-lHZBUwU?si=GmH1yglASVKI7Few

Author’s Note:

Creative detours were taken in the making of this blog post. Screenshots of Eastell’s glorious jewlery were subjected to my (unimpressive) photo editing skills. Apologies to all graphic designers everywhere, but I had fun doing it:

@staciwright