Category Archives: Essay

Community is the Curriculum

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Janice Grover
Carol J. McMurry Distinguished Librarian for Academic Excellence
University of Wyoming Libraries

At the University of Wyoming, the Zine Collective meets in the basement of the Honors College, a large old house on the edge of campus. Over time, the basement has become our space. Three round tables are pushed together and covered with glue sticks, scissors, old magazines, scraps of paper, and half-finished zines. The Honors Library interns usually get there first to spread everything out while people wander in carrying backpacks, water bottles, and random ephemera they found somewhere and wanted to share. I usually walk in carrying dinner, either local takeout, or the cheapest pizza we can afford depending on how many people are expected to show.

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From the Middle School Classroom to Academic University Libraries

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Daniel E. Feinberg, MLIS, M.Ed
Online Learning Librarian
University of North Florida
d.feinberg@unf.edu

For those who go to university and are told to try to choose a major at 18 years old, they all make decisions that affect their future career paths. Some people are unsure if their initial chosen major is the right choice, or even if it is feasible. Depending on the major, many students will choose a major in a timely manner so they can graduate in four years. I remember thinking that I would become a CDC biologist/chemist or a Broadway actor. However, the real question became what I am going to do with the rest of my life. Recalling my parents’ advice, “choose a major in which you are going to come out of college with a job” truly meant nothing to me because I did not know what they really meant by saying a job, rather than saying a career. What is the similarity or the difference here? What my father did was become a teacher, and then he became a lawyer while he taught. My mother wanted to be a librarian in the 1960s. However, her parents felt it would be better if she worked as a teacher. And so, when I went to university, I bounced around from major to major not knowing what I was doing; I was aimlessly hoping that I would fall into a discipline that would somehow land me into a career.
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On Cataloging and Life

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Sarah Theimer
Description and Discovery Strategy Librarian
University of New Hampshire

Introduction

Essay writing is a well established method of reflection and understanding. Library workers often do not have time to process the meaning that surrounds their work. The rush to get work done and on to the next thing, competing demands, and outside commitments all compete for attention and energy. These essays use writing as method for understanding professional practice. They record thoughts about cataloging and discovery work. They enable meaning to emerge through details and reflection. The essays do not tell people how to catalog or how they should feel about cataloging. They provide a way of recognizing how meaning is generated in library work through attention to systems, constraints, and decision-making.

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Participation Without Pressure: Two Case Studies in Passive Library Engagement

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Alyssa Kowis, Collegiate Librarian & Librarian Assistant Professor
Kelli Anne Gecawich, Assessment Librarian & Librarian Assistant Professor
Dr. Kristina Clement, Assistant Director of Academic Engagement & Instruction, Collegiate Librarians & Librarian Associate Professor
Kennesaw State University

Introduction

Academic libraries continue to expand outreach and engagement efforts in response to shifting student needs, evolving service models, and persistent challenges in making library value visible. These challenges are often amplified in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) focused environments where time constraints, academic workloads, and help-seeking patterns can make traditional outreach programming ineffective. At the same time, academic libraries need outreach and engagement strategies that do not always require a high time commitment from students, or continuous employee mediation, while still generating usable insight that can inform services, collections, and student success initiatives.

This paper examines low-tech, high-visibility passive outreach as a pragmatic response to a central tension in STEM library engagement: the desire for richer insight into students’ library needs and preferences versus the reality that higher-effort or socially exposed outreach methods can suppress participation. Following a brief literature review about academic library outreach, STEM outreach, and passive engagement or micro-assessment strategies, we present two complementary case studies. The first examines #ProjectWhiteboard, a portable whiteboard prompt initiative implemented at the Lane Library on Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus, documenting how a simple feedback mechanism evolved into a sustained community-building fixture. The second case study examines the Johnson Library Sticker Survey Project on the Kennesaw State University’s STEM (Marietta) campus, which adapts prompt-based engagement into a sticker “micro-survey” format designed to reduce effort further and broaden participation. Together, these cases demonstrate how pairing an established engagement method with a less-explored micro-survey variant offers practice-informed evidence for sustainable, assessment-minded outreach approaches in STEM-focused library contexts.

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From Instruction Anxiety to Instruction Confidence: Lessons from an Accidental Teacher

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Lindsay Grubin Wong
Georgia State University Library – Dunwoody
Learning & Engagement Librarian
lwong11@gsu.edu

Abstract

Many academic librarians enter instructional roles without formal training in education, often leading to feelings of anxiety, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome. This reflective article explores the process of developing confidence as a librarian instructor through lived experience rather than formal pedagogical training. Drawing on personal experiences, it examines common early challenges such as overpreparing, overexplaining, and focusing on performance over student learning. It also highlights key shifts that supported growth, including redefining instructional roles, prioritizing student-centered learning, embracing reflection, and seeking mentorship and community. By emphasizing vulnerability, authenticity, and gradual skill development, this article offers practical insights and encouragement for new librarians navigating instruction for the first time.

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