Julia Maxwell When beginning my contribution to the Library as Research Lab project, I had a fair idea of what I wanted my career path to look like: academic librarianship, with focuses on digital scholarship and undergraduate learning. After a semester working on the project, I have found that my career aspirations are now more … Continue reading Mentorship and Shaping of Career Values
Mentorship in Action
Laurie Alexander As the work of the Lab progresses, mentorship is more visible, active and accessible. It is coming from many directions – peer interaction, (in)formal mentoring activities, inspiration & iteration, and broadening of perspectives. The following observations focus on professional growth and stand apart as both notable and compelling.
The Fuzzy Front End and What It Means for Mentorship
Caroline Wack I have been working in the Design Thinking for LibraryServices lab this semester along with my wonderful peer mentors, Sophia McFadden-Keesling and Jordan Gorzalski, and our fearless librarian leaders,Meghan Sitar and Justin Schell. Our work focuses on building a design thinking tool for librarians, but we also use design thinking to create the tool. That’s right—we’re design thinking about design thinking! It’s very meta.
Librarians, Faculty, and Graduate Fellows as Research Colleagues
Doreen Bradley As one of the two librarians leading theAssessment of Student Learning Lab, it has been a very exciting year working on this IMLS grant project. As I look back on about a year of our work, I am amazed at how much we have accomplished.
Finding Solid Footing in a Fluid Space
Jordan Gabriel Gorzalski Over the course of the semester I have been working with some amazing colleagues in a very ambiguous space. I am part of the Design Thinking for Library Services lab, and a lot of what we are doing involves designing in a gray area without a clear direction. I have been lucky enough to be working with two amazing peers, Sophia McFadden-Keesling and Caroline Schuitema, who have helped to keep me grounded as we design. We all work so well together and really play on each other’s strengths. Through the whole process, from designing to testing, I have learned so much from both of them. They both bring unique perspectives and skills that I do not possess which helps when assessing our progress and the weight of the changes we make.
Designing a Design Thinking Project for a Library System
Sophia McFadden-Keesling The Design Thinking Fellowship is all about collaboration, ideation, innovation, and iteration. I have two wonderful peer mentors: Jordan Gorzalski and Caroline Schuitema. We spend hours each week discussing the project we’re working on. A great deal of the work is discussion based as we’re working with a concept more than an end goal.