Going into this sub-module, I expected “professional learning experiences” to mean the usual subjects: conferences, webinars, something I might bookmark and finish if I was interested in it but potentially never finish. What stuck with me from this module was that instead it highlighted the quieter side. The realization that how we learn as librarians and archivists is inseparable form how tired we are while doing it.
Stephens, Partridge, Davis, and Snyder’s study of Australian public librarians gave me language I didn’t know I needed: the Strategic Learner, the Curious Ad Hoc Learner, and the Skeptical Learner. I see myself as the Curious Ad Hoc Learner, reading alone first, letting an idea sit, then bringing it to my colleagues. But I can also be the Skeptical Learner on bad weeks. Sitting through: “dumbed down” mandatory training while the thing I actually need to learn never makes the calendar.
What really stuck out to me the most was the line from the discussion “it is so important that they feel valued and safe to do their jobs and learn.” Safe, not just supported. That word pulled me toward Kelsey Simon’s article on emotional labor and librarian stress. Simon traces how surface acting, performing patience and cheer all day, quietly erodes job satisfaction even when nobody calls it “work.”
Putting the two together, Professional Learning Experiences do not happen by themselves. They happen to someone already tired from suppressing boredom or absorbing a patron’s anger. No wonder a “just in time” training feels like an insult rather than an opportunity. The skepticism might be exhaustion not cynicism.
“Learning culture” now means more to me than webinar budgets. It means treating Simon’s “backstage”, the closed door, the honest vent with a coworker as real professional development, not a distraction from it. It means being more of a proactive Strategic Learner about my own growth.
References
Simon, K. (2020). Emotional labor, stressors, and librarians who work with the public. School of Information Student Research Journal, 10(1), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.31979/2575-2499.100106
Stephens, M., Partridge, H., Davis, K., & Snyder, M. (2021). The strategic, curious & skeptical learner: Australian public librarians and professional learning experiences. Public Library Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2021.1893114
Stephens, M. (2026). Module 11: Infinite learning – 1 [Course website]. INFO 287 – The Hyperlinked Library, San José State University. https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/module-11-infinite-learning-1/
Stephens, M. (2026). Infinite learning: Professional learning experiences [Course website]. INFO 287 – The Hyperlinked Library, San José State University. https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/infinite-learning-professional-learning-experiences/
