In a previous post I hinted that working as a solo librarian was making me feel alienated.

After reading a colleague’s post at Library Attack I’m convinced that others feel the same way too. In fact, I’m willing to bet that any librarian who dosen’t work in a traditional environment will likely suffer from some form of existential dread. This probably varies in scope, of course, but there are several reasons to believe we’re a Kierkegaardian bunch.

First, as specified in my post on solo librarianship we don’t have co-workers who share our expertise. We’re the only librarian in the library! Without a group to confide in it’s difficult to vent workplace frustrations, explain complex technical problems to others, or seek professional validation. All of these situations can elicit feelings of detachment.

Second, embedded librarians usually blur the lines between job roles to the point that it can become disorienting. One instance was mentioned in another of my posts that patrons assume “because you can find something on a subject and talk about… then it you’re an authority.” Not true! Plus, embedded librarians can always become more interested in the applied side of things too. If you don’t do library work it’s hard to conceive of yourself as a librarian.

Last, technology is bypassing and shaking up traditional duties. Just because someone takes classes to do one thing they won’t necessarily end out doing it. Refer to my point earlier. If you don’t do library work it’s hard to conceive of yourself as a librarian.

From when we grew up, we were taught that librarians are people who check out books. That they tell us to be quiet and ask us to not bring food or drink into the library. Unfortionately, this conception is blantantly at odds with a number of progressive manefestations within the profession. As a young librarian, I wonder what sort of cracks this might produce? Most imporntantly, if we don’t know “who we are” then how can they know what to do for our patrons?

Last year was not my best running year. Probably, the only worse years I’ve had were 2008 and before I started in High School. For whatever reason, I got started on the right foot around last February but fell apart by summer. Bigtime. Anyway, I’ve picked it up again and should be ready for Chicago in October.

Everything below accounts for my running from Jan. 25th, 2009 to Jan. 16th, 2010. That’s 51 weeks of data I’ve recorded.

Embedded Librarianship has gotten a good rap -  in part – thanks to patrons who opt to use the Internet instead of visiting libraries. This is a good thing, I think, but not many Librarians actually work with their patrons. Not surprisingly, then, the practical problems associated with being embedded don’t seem to be very public.

As an embedded librarian, I can say without hesitation that the most difficult aspect of working directly with patrons is facilitating technical discussions. Working with patrons requires that you know something about the nature of their work. But, it doesn’t require you to know everything. Instead, you operate as a middleman. Interestingly, though, people seem to naturally assume that “if you know about it then you can solve it.”

Therein lies the challenge. Embedded Librarians work so closely with their patrons that a clear distinction between roles can disappear. This can happen on both sides too.

During last summer’s  SLA Conference a colleague of mine summed up how most people become librarians. “We never expect to become one,” he said “but somehow we all end out scanning books anyway.” Ok, he didn’t exactly say that but his point was more or less the same – few people plan on the profession becoming their life’s work. I certainly didn’t. And, I’m not sure it’ll be my “legacy” either.

In 2006, I fully expected to go to graduate school. I was going to get my Ph.D, and I was going specialize in Intellectual History. My parents still thought I’d end out going to Law School. I argue like a lawyer anyway…

To make a long story short, nobody in my family knew the first thing about the college admissions process – I’m only a second generation graduate – and my application packets weren’t great to begin with. Realistic about the schools I had gotten into, which still wern’t bad,  I took a chance in St. Louis with a internship at the Missouri Historical Society, packed up, and moved from Springfield.

Just before leaving, I applied to the University of Missouri’s School of Information Science and Learning Technology. As it turned out, while writing my senior thesis one of Drury’s Librarians had suggested Library Science as a career avenue. She assuredly said that I could find work after graduating.  By 2007 my internship had ended and my boss was offering me a job working on Congressman Dick Gephardt’s Congressional Papers. The advice was paying off, and the rest, as they say, is history. I worked a few library jobs. I moved to Columbia when the Gephardt Papers Project ended. And, I graduated just in time for the “Great Recession.”

Uhoh.

After several months of searching, by chance, a former Professor mentioned that the Missouri Department of Transportation was looking for a librarian. I applied and was hired.