Before I get into my topic for this month, I wanted to share a brief update so you’re not caught off-guard at the end of October. To ensure the libraries enjoys the smoothest possible transition to a new dean, I’ve pushed my retirement date out to January 7, 2022. I’m also glad that I will now be able to finish out the year with the wonderful libraries community.
This month, I decided to write about writing. Like our students, I was also writing papers last spring and fall semesters. I was invited to write a chapter in two separate books that will be published in 2022. Typically, when something interesting like this comes along, my natural inclination is to immediately and heartily accept. It’s an easy thing to do when the deadlines are months in away. Then, time passes and the reality starts to sink in, and I find myself trying to squeeze my writing in between the spaces of my busy dean life.
Despite the unique stress a deadline can create, I really enjoyed the experience. Sharing expertise is something that library professionals do all of the time—through publications, conferences, association work, blogs, and many other venues and mediums. Writing the chapters during a pandemic was a welcome experience as it allowed me to focus on something that wasn’t COVID-related. The quarantine conditions also freed me to delve deeply into the subject matter at hand.
The first chapter is for a book on library design, an area which I’ve enjoyed gaining expertise for the past 25 years. Since 2012, I have been invited to present at all but one “Designing Libraries for the 21st Century” conferences. The conference’s founders asked me to write a chapter in the section, “Transforming Organizations While Transforming Spaces.” As a sneak preview, I decided to start the chapter with, “At heart, our spaces are only spaces without the programs, services, expertise, scholarly content, and technology that enable and infuse these spaces to drive the transformational experiences that we aspire to create for our students, faculty, and staff.”
Transformational change occurs through a complex alchemy of many elements. It’s difficult to describe yet organizations that are vibrant, dynamic, and successful are staffed by individuals who make it happen using a variety of methods, tools, and strategies. Throughout my chapter, I use examples of space planning and learning spaces from the River Campus Libraries, such as the 10-year Strategic Facilities Master Plan for Rush Rhees Library, Evans Lam Square, the Barbara J. Burger iZone, the Gleason Refresh Project, and Studio X.
I was also asked to write about “Information Professionals: Physical and Virtual Environments” in the third edition of the textbook Information Services Today: An Introduction.
This chapter was a challenge to write for two reasons. The first concerns my role. I am more or less operating at 20,000 feet and no longer have a functionally specific role other than leadership and strategy. The second reason is the sheer number of changes in academic libraries that I have experienced in my career. This had me chasing references that I could use to support this lived experience all the while limiting what I had to say to fit within the prescribed 5,000 words. I approached the chapter by providing a brief history of academic libraries, and then describing the characteristics and needs of primary users (undergraduate and graduate students and faculty) and the broader community. Once that context was set, I discussed how academic library professionals support learning and research and, in turn, the competencies, mindsets, values, and skills essential for library professionals to stay abreast of changing needs and the broader environment. It was a bit of a whirlwind to write as I really could have said a lot more.
The deadlines for both chapter revisions were, more or less, close to the end of the spring semester. I have received first edits on both from the editors, and I’m happy (and relieved) to share I received a solid grade!
To anyone who is in the middle of a writing project, you have my confidence and my sympathy!
Mary Ann Mavrinac
Vice Provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean
University of Rochester Libraries
