Something that really stuck with me in these modules is the concept of chaos always being around to some level. As @michael states in his book, Heart of Librarianship, “hyperlinked library practice is based on the ideas, concepts, and trends of our socio-technological landscape. The hyperlinked librarian understands the following:

– The library is everywhere—it is not just the building or virtual spaces.

– Hyperlinking subverts existing organizational structures.

– Our institutions should be flatter and team-based.

– Seamless service should be available across all channels of interaction.

– We must reach all users, not just those who come through our doors.

– The most powerful information services to date are probably found in the palm of everyone’s hand.

– The path forward will always be an evolutionary one.

– Inevitably, there will always be some amount of chaos.” (Stephens 2016). 

When chaos is accepted as part of the inevitable experience of a librarian, change management becomes central to practice. Change and change management is especially centered in the participatory library model described in Library 2.0. The model prioritizes constant and purposeful change, as well as participatory user-driven services, to improve services for new and loyal users (Casey and Savastinuk 2007). Library 2.0 believes that constant and purposeful change is possible and exactly that: constant and purposeful. Casey and Savastinuk continue to say that this is not just change for the sake of change, and that change can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be. If it is baked into the infrastructure, like regular reviewing and updating of services, then it can be helpful and organized to reduce overall stress. That is the overall goal of change management to me; reducing overall stress by having both staff and patrons be open to change as a tool for growth. 

When Brian Mathews wrote about cultivating complexity, he brought up change management in the context of teamwork. Mathews writes, “Efficiency is something to strive for when things are stable and predictable, but my environment was volatile, nonlinear, and increasingly complex. This growing awareness caused me to rethink my objectives. Instead of asking ‘how do I manage my time better?’…I needed to get better at understanding how we worked together, not just what we were doing (Mathews 2017).” A lot of change management and accepting chaos requires reframing of conventional thought to more expansive, flexible approaches. With Mathews, the reframing resulted in them rethinking complexity as a multitudinous, non-linear, dynamic, and emergent process. “To operate successfully in a complex environment we must accept that chaos is present and work to develop resilience, allowing it to propel us in seemingly unexpected directions,” (Mathews 2017)

In exploring beyond the readings, I found an article using “swimming upstream” to discuss how the control and command model (more traditional model) feels like an uphill battle. Their article discusses current change theories and gives a model for leading in a world of chaos and change. Their argument is that it better prepares library workers to accept chaos and complexity in their system. What I appreciated most about this article was that it shared similar views as the hyperlinked library model and the practices of library workers within that model, especially leadership. They state, “The leader’s goal needs to shift from trying to control change that is often out of our immediate or direct control, to being opportunistic and responding to change that makes library programs and services adapt-able within our communities for our constituents…Leaders take actions that are situational; they take advantage of change to move and leverage the organization so that it is always positioned for growth and success (Mielke, Singer, and Griffith 2006).”

chaos and complexity model vs traditional model from Mielke et al

References

Casey, M.E. and Savastinuk, L. C. (2007). Library 2.0: A guide to participatory library service. Information Today Inc.

Mathews, C. (2017, September). Cultivating complexity: How I stopped driving the innovation train and started planting seeds in the community garden. Virginia Tech. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/78886

Mielke, L. J., Singer, P. M., & Griffith, G. L. (2007). Swimming upstream. Public Library Quarterly, 25(1-2), 105-116. https://doi.org/10.1300/J118v25n01_08

Stephens, M. (2016). Heart of librarianship. ALA Editions.

Hello and welcome to my introductory post for this blog/course! I am Splendid Speckled Mosscap (they/them), named after one of the main characters in Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Mosscap is a robot, and in the book’s world, robots name themselves after the first thing they saw when they were created. Throughout the duology, I found myself really appreciating the sustainable, community focused universe Chambers built. In a time when I was struggling to see myself in the future doing anything, this duology as well as my love of afrofuturism taught me that the world can’t change without us imagining different realities. Reading is something I used to do a lot in grade school, but soon enough the only things I read were textbooks and scientific articles; reading started to be associated with drudgery as opposed to joy and wonder. I figured it would be fun to name myself on this blog after a character from the first book I read in a long while that left an impact.

I started this degree with sweaty palms in Fall of 2023. I recently received a master’s in microbiology, but burnt out along the way. It made the thought of working in the field in which I had spent 10 years terrifying, so I needed to switch things up. For a while, I worked with my hands, making art and hoping that maybe it could pay my bills as a business. It didn’t.

At the suggestion of my partner, I started working at a local library and finding peace again. I still make and sell art, though, because it has been nice being in community with other creatives, as well as being able to share my work with others. This week in crafts, I mixed a few different skills to create silicone coasters for my partner. It started with making a 3d model of the coaster, then making a box that had the negative of the coaster, then pouring into that box to make silicone coasters. They came out super neat, and it inspired me to try making different types of coasters.

I am hoping that during this program I can find meaningful ways to connect my love of making with my job. I recently was able to help lead a program in collaboration with a local maker space, and I am angling to have more of those programs in the future.

Currently, I work as an aide, and the work has been relaxing, but I am eager to do more. When telling people I am in this program, the follow up question tends to be what kind of librarian do I want to be. In the beginning, my answer was one that could pay their rent. But the other major reason was that I had a lot of ideas that had to continue being ideas at my current classification. I knew I needed to learn more about what it means to be a librarian and begin the path to advancing if I wanted to make some of my ideas a reality. This week in work, I was helping with a program that gives participants a laptop if they finish the series of classes. The classes focus on tech literacy and cybersecurity. And in conversation with a coworker, I learned that our library is going to host its own tech classes throughout the year. I am hoping that I can be involved in that work and help our community feel more comfortable with their devices.