The Liminal Librarian

I’ve been following the recent discussion on free access to online learning with great interest — and mixed thoughts.

I work for myself, and make a living partially by doing conference presentations and workshops. (Walt Crawford rightly points out that nobody’s getting rich off library conference speaking, but it does help pay for my son’s preschool so that I have time to work on the other make-a-living activities I’ve cobbled together.)

People often invite me to present for free, and I almost always say no. I’m more reluctant to say “no” to places like SirsiDynix Institute or OPAL that provide free online learning opportunities, because I believe in what they’re doing. I have no problem saying no to larger in-person operations that invite me to pay my own way and registration fees for the privilege of donating my time. (I don’t have a workplace that bears my travel and registration costs — and never have, even when I was working full-time in a library.)

The one thing I remember from college economics is the concept of opportunity cost: basically, the cost of doing one thing in terms of the other opportunities you forego by doing so. If I say “yes” to doing a free workshop, I then have opportunity cost in terms of the time putting the workshop together that I am unable to spend with my family, or in having to say “no” to a paid opportunity because I’m already committed to an unpaid one.

On the other hand, I do firmly believe in the importance of giving back to this profession and the importance of making continuing education more accessible. If I weren’t already overcommitted and spending too much time on other unpaid professional activities, I’d probably be jumping headfirst onto the bandwagon — and even so, I’ll continue to say the occasional “yes.” I fully anticipate seeing Meredith Farkas and others create viable free or very low-cost online learning opportunities — yes, it will take a lot of time and commitment, but not much different than that required of volunteer local and state in-person conference organizers.

Karen Schneider points out in a comment that she’d “like to see some room between ‘free and online’ and ‘breathtakingly expensive and strictly face-to-face.’” There’s a heck of a lot of room there, and we’ll see what emerges and whether the “breathtakingly expensive” ftf model holds. (Or, whether we or our workplaces will continue to support the bafflingly expensive online versions given by some of our assocations.) It’s definitely an interesting time to be a librarian!