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Lifelong Learning
by Denise Landry-Hyde
Lifelong learning should today be a familiar concept to all of us. Commencement is not the end, but the beginning of a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and learning; a college degree simply lays the foundation for a person's education. Pundits tell us that young people today will change careers roughly seven times in a lifetime. In order to do that, we must learn how to learn.
One thing that has always attracted me to the university setting is the constant interaction of teaching and learning. I can't think of a better environment in which to work and grow and develop.
I will use my own university library to illustrate how rapidly change now occurs. We are a mid-sized library in a historically underserved area. Our library first brought an automated catalog online in 1995. Prior to that, we had a few stand-alone CD-ROM workstations -- and that was about it on the electronic front.
Shortly after we went online, however, we brought up a LAN. After that, we soon moved almost exclusively to web-based databases, and now offer two ways to access our databases from remote locations. The university has recently adopted WebCT as its courseware delivery software and has contracted with Eduprise to help provide the 24/7 support required to sustain instruction in a digital environment. All of these developments occurred in the space of just a few short years. It is mind-boggling how rapidly change takes place.
In order to be able to survive (and hopefully prosper!) in this new learning environment, we must be perpetual learners. One of the best ways I have found to keep technologically up-to-date is to regularly attend workshops and instruction sessions offered by our Center for Teaching Excellence here on campus. Most colleges and universities have some equivalent unit -- the name may be different, but the function is the same. The intent is to help faculty stay current in learning technologies that can be used in the classroom. These may include everything from Web authoring tools to presentation software to courseware delivery packages to digital cameras and scanning techniques.
So, you don't necessarily need to travel vast distances in order to take advantage of training opportunities. There are likely to be many such opportunities right at your door. I have become a regular customer at our CTE and have become close friends with the educational technologists who work there. They are part of my support network. Library staff have also offered some of their workshops, such as "Creating Successful Library Research Assignments." Collaboration with the Center staff has been a real pleasure, and we have both benefited from the experience.
Another base for networking and continuing education is the conference circuit and participation in professional associations. In my case, my state library association (Texas Library Association) is a tremendously active and productive one, so my heaviest conference participation is at the state level. For many librarians, travel dollars are limited, so travel to state annual conferences is often more feasible than travel to national or international conferences.
Membership in association divisions, round tables, and interest groups provides opportunities to network and exchange ideas with people who are working in similar areas. In specialized fields, like Marine Science, tremendous support is available through specialized associations such as IAMSLIC (International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers). The Marine Science community, even on a worldwide scale, is a relatively small one, but this association is particularly strong in its accomplishments and being a member is a wonderful way to connect and to stay current in the field.
E-mail discussion lists are another extremely valuable way to keep current. Moderated lists are often preferable as they keep extraneous postings to a minimum. Two of my favorites are LIBREF-L (Reference) and BI-L (Library Instruction). The Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Academic Discussion Lists, compiled by Dru Mogge and Diane Kovacs and published by ARL, is a good starting point for helping individuals find meaningful and appropriate discussion lists.
I think I would feel cut off from the world if I could not check my e-mail daily. How many times have librarians been saved by colleagues on a discussion list who responded, often in record time, to appeals for help? Whether they are answering an unusually difficult reference question or explaining how a particular library dealt with an issue that others are likely to face, I've often felt that I (literally!) have a world of expertise at my fingertips.
I have found my own regional network's discussion list (Amigos-Now) to be helpful in keeping abreast of training opportunities, announcements, etc. Since our library is a heavy user of FirstSearch databases, FIRSTSEARCH-L is a useful tool for staying current with changing features of those databases, new journal lists, and so on. Monitoring these lists also helps us keep our users informed.
Several e-publications that I find invaluable are The Chronicle of Higher Education, which can be accessed online if your library has a subscription, Library Journal's Academic Newswire, for very current news in the field, and the University of Wisconsin's The Scout Report, well known for its highlighting of new, quality Web sites.
Trusted print titles, especially ones that come with professional memberships, are always a source for ideas and shared scholarship. In a recent survey of its members, ALA's ACRL found that, overwhelmingly, they look to its publications to help them stay viable in the profession. The joy of personally receiving publications such as College and Research Libraries, College and Research Libraries News, American Libraries, and Reference & User Services Quarterly is that one can highlight articles of interest, write in the margins, and do other things that help make these materials one's own.
All of the above are positive ways to learn throughout one's professional life. An information professional's work is never done, and it is work that is constantly changing. But these are characteristics that make what we do exciting and always new!
Denise Landry-Hyde is currently Reference Coordinator at Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She began her professional life as a teacher and has been a librarian since 1982. Denise has worked primarily in university/research libraries, and along the way she has served as a one-person library at a Marine Science facility and as a newspaper librarian.