Lifelong Learning: 4 Years

Today I mark 4 years since my MLIS graduation from Dominican University.

Since librarian professionals are all about fostering lifelong learning, it's fitting on this occasion for me to think about what I've been learning since graduate school.  I've thought a bit more about graduate school as this past January marked 5 years since I started my MLIS program, and so this time next year will mark the 5-year anniversary of my graduation.

Throughout my time studying for my MLIS, I gained new perspectives on the world through the lens of information, just as I have gained new insights in the time since graduation.

And I got a whole new perspective on what it means to be a librarian last summer.

On the evening of July 13, 2019, I pulled into the driveway of my cousins' home in Portage, MI, for a truly magical evening.

While my cousin Greg was preparing dinner, his wife Melissa instructed her young daughters Ava and Emma to give me a tour of their home.

This day was my first visit to their home, and I didn't know where anything was.  But Ava and Emma, all of 6 and 3, respectively, readily showed me around the place where they live.

As I reflect on my visit that day, I realize that we all function like librarians in some respects.  We all have opportunities to pass on our knowledge to those who need it, and help them use it for some purpose.  Ava and Emma showed me around so I knew where to go in their house during my visit.

Following dinner, right before their bedtime, the two daughters asked me to read them a bedtime story, probably my first time ever doing so.  It was an immense thrill to sit on the couch between them, and do something as simple as read them a story, part of fostering lifelong literacy skills in them.

A couple months later, I had another magical evening on Tuesday, September 17, when I started a new year of Religious Education with a new group of wonderful students.  I shared about my magical July 13 evening with them.  Then I connected it with my role as a catechist, how I help them encounter the God Who is so vast and mysterious like the ocean, yet tosses us floaties so we can swim in the ocean and encounter His presence through the various ways He reveals Himself to us.

It's wonderful work to help people access the information they need to live life meaningfully.  And that's what has made it so special to be in this line of work.

Here we are, from left to right, Ava, me, and Emma, three librarians, enjoying a book.