(source)

For our Infinite Learning module, I chose to explore the “Library as Classroom” articles and resources. I even ended up writing about the Åke Nygren paper in my Inspiration Report. Another piece that got my wheels turning was “Curating Learning Experiences: A Future Role For Librarians?” by Brian Mathews. For those of you who didn’t choose this section of the readings, I’ll briefly sum up the gist of this essay by saying that it was written by a college librarian who was asked to purchase something that they initially thought of as outside of their scope: a WordPress blog theme. With some thought, however, Mathews realized that this particular piece of technology for the faculty member who requested it would provide them with something that would help them to build a better learning environment (a virtual one!) for their class – something that did indeed fall inside of his scope. As someone whose library acquisitions job is to field requests from faculty and librarians, I read this with many instances of similar far-reaching requests running through my head (ex., films that haven’t ever been picked up for distribution; online courses; kindle books). I admit that I have been left exasperated in the face of some of these asks in the past, but I feel like I might approach them differently now. (I don’t have the final say on these things, but enthusiasm can go a long way when approaching my supervisor for permission.) All of this reminded me of my Assignment X essay – the part where I mentioned how our library’s new director promotes an atmosphere of saying “yes” to things whenever we can. The Mathews essay puts me in mind of that thinking. He looked at this odd request as an opportunity, and then sketched out a few different ways that a librarian might take advantage of playing a part in the implementation of a blogging platform: as an installer, or an embedded participant, for example.

Another thing this particular reading made me think about was our class’s WordPress site. It’s so cool! I had high hopes of doing at least a little bit of mingling in our group chats (that podcast one is so great!), but this semester has just been so draining. Not so much with the coursework, but with everything. *gestures around at it all* At least I got to enjoy a lot of your blog posts and assignments – I read a bunch, even though I didn’t always comment. You all were very inspiring! I hope everyone has many great adventures in the rest of their degree work and beyond.

References

Mathews, B. (2013, September 5). Curating learning experiences: A future role for librarians? The Ubiquitous Librarian. https://www.chronicle.com/blognetwork/theubiquitouslibrarian/2013/09/05/curating-learning-experiences-a-future-role-for-librarians/