by I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at the Ontario Library Services North (OLSN) conference in Sudbury. One of the reasons I was excited to accept the invitation is that it took me out of my normal presentation audience. I love working in academia, but it often feels like a bubble. We’re so busy looking at our own issues that we don’t get to think about our colleagues in public libraries and the issues they face. This conference offered me a chance to try to think a little differently and, because it isn’t my area of expertise, I’ve been able to learn a lot so far, like working with First Nations clients and engaging your community. The latter is something I think academic libraries should be working towards: both our own university community but also partnering with public libraries to reach out to our greater community. Universities are very insular, but partnerships between the university, academic and public libraries can help open up the institution and engage their community in new and exciting ways.
I’ve really enjoyed breaking out of my norm and learning so much from my public library colleagues. It’s been a refreshing to look at librarianship through a new lens and I highly recommend taking the chance to learn something outside of your own field.
