Thing 20: Advocacy and Engagement

Of the many options for this Thing, I selected Exercise 7:

In 200 words or less, describe a new area of librarianship that you are passionate about. How would you go about promoting it within the library that you work in and/or the wider library profession?

“Passionate” may be too strong a word, but I’m interested in developing bibliometric and scholarly impact services at my library. This would move us into the 21st century.

I plan to start small, analyzing works of campus researchers who use a specialized animal facility. I’d send those faculty a graphic displaying the results, list other possible analyses, and ask if they would be interested in additional work. I could also distribute the product to the rest of their colleagues, and perhaps even to other departments.

If I successfully gather expressions of interest, I’ll be able to inform my supervisor that I’m increasing my extended reference and consultation statistics (which she urged me to do during my last annual review). For political reasons, however, I will be careful not to describe my work, internally or externally, as a new service. Otherwise I’ll be reprimanded for overstepping my bounds.

My efforts could benefit all parties. Faculty would get material useful for their tenure and promotion applications, my supervisor would receive reports with the increased numbers she wants, and I’d know that I’m performing work that is relevant, practical, and perhaps even publishable.