Reflective practice is one of the reasons I’ve made my switch to librarianship. I have worked in technology for a very long time, but in capacities which haven’t really encouraged reflective practice. Technology moves so quickly that many feel there really isn’t time for reflective practice–“be nimble, be quick” is seen to conflict with this. There’s so much involved in bringing the bits to each user that time spent in other ways seems wasteful and unprofitable. Even in situations where technology is the tool but not the goal I’ve found this to be true.
Librarianship is, for me, the way to bring these tools and services to members.
It’s nice to know I’ve come to the right place.
I don’t have a clever wrap-up for this so I’ll link in this video to Broccoli kitten … he appeared on Animal Planet tonight, so he’s a star and I can’t do better than that right now.
Re: Broccoli Kitten: My cat loved broccoli too. He would smell it cooking and jump up onto my plate to eat it.
Broccoli kitten knows what he likes!
Some may dismiss reflection as a luxury or nonessential when time is short as it does not produce anything concrete (at the time). However, taking the time to purposefully reflect and evaluate builds towards future success. I have been involved with SLISConnect (the SJSU SLIS students and alumni group) since it formed two years ago. I am so proud to see the group evolving over time from merely getting up and running, to incorporating the ‘finer things’ such as reflective practice. We now take the time to discuss how things went and what we can learn following our events and activities.
Cute video!!
Hmmm. I think that there is plenty of “be nimble, be quick” working the Ask Us! Desk at our library. In fact, often it feels as if “be nimbler, be quicker” is one of the unstated objectives. I believe it is important to provide each library member with comprehensive service, instruction, or guidance even when it means getting back to someone a bit later in order to provide fuller compliment of service. I hope that our institutions will attach continued value to reflection in spite of the frenetic pace at the service desk. Reflection is a critical component to doing what we do “even better” the next time around.