A Day in the Life is a series featuring individuals working in the library and information field presented by the Indiana University Department of Information and Library Science. Current students and alumni will find profiles of professionals involved in all aspects of librarianship. If you are an alumni and would like to be featured in A Day in the Life, please email ilsmain@indiana.edu or Katie Martin at martkael@indiana.edu.
“It’s always satisfying to help people. What we do isn’t necessarily life changing, but I find it rewarding to show a student our library catalog for the first time or connect someone with the right resource. It’s the one-on-one connections that we make with students or faculty or community members that are really meaningful to me. I take pride in the little things.”
Educational Background: Bachelor of Arts in Film Production, minor in Studio Art; Master of Library Science
Previous Experience: Assistant in the Department of Information and Library Science Admissions Office, Reference Assistant in Wells Library, Center Supervisor for the Willkie Library, Graphic Design Assistant at the IU Libraries, and Intern at the Monroe County Public Library, Adult Services and Youth Services departments, Digital Literacy Librarian for the Martin County Public Libraries.
Leanne had little experience working in libraries before attending IU, but she fell in love with libraries when she was an undergraduate studying abroad in Sweden. The friendly librarians and welcoming atmosphere provided comfort during periods of homesickness. Leanne’s fond remembrances led her to volunteer at few public libraries after she received a bachelor’s degree in film production. These experiences validated her intention to pursue librarianship as a career and enroll in IU’s library science program. While at IU, Leanne took classes geared toward a career in a public library. Although she entered the program with limited experience in librarianship, she left with a full resume.
Upon graduation from IU, Leanne achieved her goal of working in a public library. She served as the Digital Literacy Librarian for the Martin County Library System in Florida. In this position, Leanne’s favorite responsibility was teaching three classes each week. Leanne describes the difficulty of teaching in a library versus a typical classroom. The variability in the types of audiences “forces you to think on your feet and constantly adapt.” Although Leanne enjoyed the work and the Florida sunshine, she missed serving a younger community.
Leanne returned to IU as the Scholarly Technologies Librarian in 2015. She is happy to be back in Bloomington, but she admits that working in an academic library has brought new challenges. Leanne says, “Things like promotion and tenure weren’t on my radar until I started my current position. Fortunately there’s a lot of support for new faculty both inside the Libraries and campus-wide.” The position evolved out of a previous Emerging Technologies position and role is comparable to many other Digital Humanities-type jobs. She has duties that span multiple departments: Reference Services, Digital Collection Services, Teaching & Learning, and University Information Technology Services.
Leanne serves as part of the Libraries’ Social Media Team, provides technical training for the reference department, and works regular shifts at the reference desk. Additionally, Leanne is involved in many projects that utilize her fine arts background. She often creates displays, designs exhibits, and makes digital signs. Many of the other librarians come from the text-based fields of English or history and Leanne’s background in the arts provides an alternative perspective.
In her new role, Leanne is interested in bringing aspects of public libraries to the university. She started the Maker Monday Workshops that incorporate elements of Makerspaces into an academic library. Makerspaces are places where people can come together to learn through invention and creativity. These spaces are appearing in many public library settings. Makerspaces can be difficult to translate to university library setting because they must appeal to all students, regardless of discipline or background. However, workshops that feature fun technology such as Google cardboard, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and Makey Makey can entertain and educate all students.
Aspects of Leanne’s work extend beyond the IU campus. She collaborates with other librarians at IU and the University of Illinois on projects related to the HathiTrust Research Center (HRTC). The HTRC is a collaborative research center created to develop software tools and cyberinfrastructure to help scholars navigate the HathiTrust Digital Library. Leanne also shares many of her experiences in blog posts for the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).
Leanne’s advice for current students:
1. Work as much as you can while you’re a student! There are so many great jobs for ILS students in a variety of different library environments.
2. Take the class that scares you the most. For me, that class was Storytelling. Standing in front of a group of people with no props or technology to hide behind scared the bejeezus out of me, but I grew so much throughout the course of that class.
3. Create your own network of librarians. Many of my colleagues are also my friends. I love that we work together during the day, but also wind up brainstorming or having meaningful discussions about librarianship when we’re outside the library.