I thought I’d start the festivities by sharing a bit about myself, what I do, what I like. Some of the stuff you can’t get from a CV or cover letter.

To start, I am a librarian. An instruction librarian, to be more precise. Which means, as I explain to my mother, that I teach people how to do research. I currently work at a university, and I absolutely love it. I knew the day I started college (back in August 2003) that if I could, I would never leave. The first question my mother-in-law asked me when I finished my MLS was, “So what’s your next degree?” We all had a good laugh, but the MLS was my second graduate degree. And if I’m honest, I would love for it to not be my last. For now, though, I am happy to be working at a large university, teaching classes, and working at the reference desk.

But all of that you probably could have surmised from my CV or cover letter. So what else is there? I find it strange that the standard answer to the question, “Who are you?” is to state one’s profession. Is a librarian who I am? Or it is merely what I do? In some cases, for those fortunate enough to do what they love for a living, I can reasonably believe that one’s profession is both who you are what you do. For me, I would argue that the “librarian” label is only part of who am.

So who am I? I’m a walking mess of contradictions, likes and dislikes, and confusing feelings, like most people. I adore my dog above all things (which my husband, bless his heart, can confirm); I love winter and food and my family; I took up cross-stitching in college and still love it. I once won a Scrabble tournament. There’s a Harry Potter poster on my office wall, and my only regret is I don’t have a Hunger Games poster next to it. But I do have an Avengers poster, so my geek label is firmly intact.

Most days, I tell myself I’m a writer, even though I’ve accomplished very little sustained writing in my life. I have as many as five partial novels saved at any point in time, bad teenage poetry in sticker-decorated notebooks, and this is probably the 5th blog I have started in my life time. (I’ll just go ahead and not count my Xanga from HS, okay?)

But, really, who am I? Just a litany of preferences? A summary of all of my experiences? I am not sure I have, or will ever have, an adequate response to that question. But here is the gist of what you may want to know about me and this blog:

I am passionate about education. I believe, with every fiber of whoever I am, that education is vital to individuals and to society. I also believe that education comes in many forms–so know that I am not only talking about a 4-year, college degree. And of the various skills or ideas that people can take away from education, I believe that information literacy is at the top of that list. There are critical habits of thinking and acting that information literate individuals engage in which go far beyond teaching students how to find an article in a database or how to Google more effectively.

With this blog, I plan to write about issues that matter to me. Trends in librarianship, trends in higher education, books that I have read or articles I recommend. There will probably also be entries popping up about things going on in my life, personal and professional, but I will always try to relate things back to my main foci: education and librarianship. Still want to take this crazy ride with me? You have been warned.