{"id":85513,"date":"2014-12-09T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=85513"},"modified":"2014-12-09T10:23:56","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T16:23:56","slug":"opening-a-library-the-future-of-librarianship-and-teaching-interview-with-tracy-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=85513","title":{"rendered":"Opening a Library, the Future of Librarianship, and Teaching\u2014Interview with Tracy Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ashley Mancill, Senior Assistant,\u00a0INALJ Alabama<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Opening a Library, the Future of Librarianship, and Teaching\u2014Interview with Tracy\u00a0Hall<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Tracy<\/a>Tracy Hall is the library director for Spanish Fort Public Library, a long-awaited\u00a0addition to the small Alabama community set to open in Spring 2015. Tracy previously\u00a0served the staff and student body at Virginia Tech as the Information Literacy\u00a0Instruction Coordinator. She is a graduate of Hollins College and received her library\u00a0degree from Louisiana State University in 2009.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please describe your educational background.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After high school, I did not go to college right away. I worked and tried to figure out\u00a0exactly what it was that I wanted to do. I wanted to be really sure. So I took a few\u00a0years off and worked and then attended Hollins University in Roanoke, which is\u00a0right down the road from Blacksburg. And I continued to work while I was in school.\u00a0It was while I was at Hollins that someone mentioned library science. We were all\u00a0talking about maybe pursuing master\u2019s degrees and what we would do. At Hollins,\u00a0I received a B.A. in Art History, which I loved it\u2014loved the research component of\u00a0that\u2014but I thought \u201cReally, am I going to pursue a Ph.D. in Art History? Probably\u00a0not. So what am I going to do?\u201d And that didn\u2019t dawn on me until my senior year.\u00a0That\u2019s when library science came up.<\/p>\n

So I really started investigating and looking into library science degrees.\u00a0Unfortunately, no school in the state of Virginia had a program, so I was going to\u00a0have to maybe do an online program. University of Tennessee at Knoxville had\u00a0one, and I looked into that. University of Florida also had an online program, but at\u00a0that point, I was really going to be able to leave the area. I kind of felt that I really\u00a0wanted to immerse myself in something and travel. So I applied to several places,\u00a0and LSU ended up being where I decided to go. A big part of that was because I have\u00a0family and friends in Baton Rouge, and I really kind of wanted to have family and\u00a0connections in the area, too.<\/p>\n

You have an academic library background. How would you describe the transition to\u00a0public librarianship?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s been really different. For the most part, it has been different working with a\u00a0city government. That has been very unique and different\u2014working with a library\u00a0board and city council and the bureaucracy and making sure everything is by the\u00a0book. And that was in place in academia, but you seem to have bit more freedom\u00a0[laugh<\/em>] to be creative and collaborate and innovate and brainstorm\u2014at least on\u00a0the level that I was on. It was very creative and hands-on. And I miss that, but the\u00a0structure with the government is nice. You set those policies in place and you have\u00a0that structure to fall back on. It\u2019s also really cool that since this is brand new, we get\u00a0to create everything from scratch. We have examples that we look to, like the folks\u00a0at the [Baldwin County] Cooperative, but everything is brand new. We get to build\u00a0that policy and make those rules, and I never had that opportunity in academia.<\/p>\n

What are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced since starting your job as\u00a0a library director?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely working in a very [small] environment has been a challenge. Obviously we\u00a0do not have space. Donations have come in, and there really was not a plan in place\u00a0as to what we were going to do with these boxes of books. So that\u2019s been a huge<\/em>\u00a0challenge. One of the challenges that I still see and that I will hopefully get a grip on\u00a0is really reaching out to the community and finding out what their needs are. This is\u00a0a library for the community, so I do not want to make it out of just my vision or the\u00a0library board\u2019s or city council\u2019s vision. I want it to be the vision of the community.\u00a0So figuring out the platform to get in touch with them. Surveys are kind of overdone.\u00a0Do people even have time to do surveys? So I am trying to think of an innovative and\u00a0unique way to really hear their voices.<\/p>\n

What do you think is the future of librarianship? That is, where do you see the field\u00a0going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely, as I mentioned earlier, the community aspect is so key. Every community\u00a0is going to be different, and so really understanding what the needs are is huge,\u00a0particularly with public libraries. And that\u2019s going to be different for me, coming\u00a0from an academic library background.<\/p>\n

As for where it\u2019s going, I know technology is absolutely huge and so is making sure\u00a0that libraries today have the resources to provide exposure. We get in these ruts and\u00a0think that everyone has a laptop and that everyone has Internet access. That is not\u00a0true. There are families that can\u2019t afford it, do not have access to it or it\u2019s slow, or\u00a0have older machines and equipment, and the library can really be a unique way to\u00a0expose you to technology.<\/p>\n

I was speaking with my friend who just received her degree, and she mentioned\u00a0that there just needs to be more classes in programming and computer science.\u00a0There needs to be a stronger build between those two. When I was at LSU, it was\u00a0very traditional. We had reference class and we had cataloging\u2014that was probably\u00a0the most technical class I got. I did take a JavaScript class and a website design class\u00a0because I was interested and I wanted to learn that. I think those two could merge\u00a0a bit more. They may be doing that at places like Drexel or University of Texas at\u00a0Austin. But I think that can only help us get a way from that stereotype of what\u00a0librarianship is.<\/p>\n

What is one thing you wished someone had told you before you entered the field?\"ashleymancill\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe a little more about the teaching side of things. When I went to graduate\u00a0school, I was drawn toward academic. But the teaching\u2014I was never told ever that\u00a0there would be a teaching side. But it absolutely makes sense! You\u2019re teaching, you\u00a0are working with people, but that was never said in so many words. So I think the\u00a0teaching angle. Public speaking, also. Getting up in front of people, for me, for a long\u00a0time was very\u2014I was just \u201cEw, I don\u2019t want to do that. I want to be in the back.\u201d\u00a0I just wanted to be over here doing it and then help with everything, but I didn\u2019t\u00a0want to be in the front. And since 2007, I\u2019ve had to be in the front. And I should\u00a0have known that, but no one said it in so many words. I think that would have\u00a0helped me a little bit more going into graduate school. We took one<\/strong> class in that,\u00a0and I was doing that everyday. I could have done a whole other graduate study just\u00a0on teaching and preparing lesson plans. One class in one semester in two years is\u00a0hardly enough to even scratch the surface. So I learned a lot on the job.<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice for aspiring librarians?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely take advantage of the information interview and be open minded to\u00a0growth and change\u2014that\u2019s only going to help our field. Opportunities at graduate\u00a0school definitely will allow for things like that, but that\u2019s only going to help us push\u00a0pass this stereotype, if we are even in it. I think we\u2019ve moved on from it, but it is\u00a0convincing the community that it is not real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ashley Mancill, Senior Assistant,\u00a0INALJ Alabama Opening a Library, the Future of Librarianship, and Teaching\u2014Interview with Tracy\u00a0Hall Tracy Hall is the library director for Spanish Fort Public Library, a long-awaited\u00a0addition to the small Alabama community set to open in Spring 2015. Tracy previously\u00a0served the staff and student body at Virginia Tech as the Information Literacy\u00a0Instruction…<\/p>\n

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