A well respected member of the faculty just stopped by my office to wish me farewell, While we were talking I realized (perhaps a little late) what my subconscious goal at HCC has been. Humans usually set goals before embarking on projects, but sometimes it's hindsight that makes us realize our true goals. My true goal has been to connect with the students.
As the only librarian on this campus, I’ve been so busy that I didn’t even realize that this was my main goal. I had goals of implementing an IM-based chat reference service, creating a classroom for library instruction sessions, breaking some librarian/library stereotypes, and basically gaining some professional experience.
How do I connect with the students? I love my students and I think it shows: I don't talk above them, I smile and wave, I listen and give advice, I crack jokes in instruction sessions, I don’t overwhelm them with sources for their research papers, I have the latest Mary J Blige album and roll into the parking lot with my system up, and I sure as hell don’t look like a librarian, I look more like a student (eg. blog title and profile). I have a ton of duties in this position, but I put interaction with my students before all else.
One of my unofficial mottos since taking this job has been, "whatever gets them through the door," and you can take that one to the bank. There've been more "regular customers" in this library since who knows when, and our usage has been up steadily. We’ve also done more official library instruction than ever before. So I guess I’ve realized my ulterior goal of connecting with the students, and I succeeded at accomplishing it. Because before you can teach them anything you’ve got to make a connection.
God I’m gonna miss this job!
