Moving outside our comfort zones

So what is the role of librarians in a highly but inequitably networked world? We traditionally have seen ourselves as closely tied to content, and our work as its protector, controller and disseminator. A key component of our professional identity is service to others. Still it often seems as if we only want to serve those who walk through our doors, people who already have bought into the allure of books. In a blog posting this week, Karen Coyle writes of the insularity of librarianship and “our tendency to only speak to each other.” It’s a valid point but one that probably could be made of any profession or group. The birds of a feather phenomenon…


This becomes problematic if we believe that the library plays a special role within society as an opportunity equalizer but are not actively involved in reaching out to those who could benefit most from its resources and services. What are we doing about all the people who never come into libraries and never read books? A number of my students are teen services librarians and even as they express their frustration with the limited success of their blogs, wikis, or gaming nights, I have been so proud of their courage in trying something new. It’s hard to be on the cutting edge and they are. But they are moving into this new and uncomfortable terrain because of their commitment to engage teens who normally would never come into the library; to engage teens who prefer a screen to a page.


Moving outside our comfort zone and revealing our technological shortcomings in front of others is not a strategy most people embrace. As a professor, I have had colleagues encourage me to maintain my distance and standing as an expert when in front of a class. Teaching technology, an area that undergoes continuous change, I think it would be disingenuous if not disastrous to do so. Certainly it would be transparent to my students when I did not have complete mastery of the latest tool. Again, the breakneck cycle of innovation in a Web 2.0 world would result in my regular humiliation. I find it much easier to confess my deficiencies while simultaneously accepting my students’. I try to model how to learn, how to move forward in spite of fear and discomfort. This may be the most important lesson I can teach them because it is one that they will have to repeat many times throughout their careers. It is also one that practicing librarians, even those with many years experience, must be mindful of if we are to move outside the familiar circle of traditional book lovers and library users to engage new communities and share the opportunities that our knowledge can enable.