Having just finished my first year as an academic law librarian, I decided to take some tried-and-true New Year's resolutions and re-focus them on the theme of professional development.
(1) Stop procrastinating! This resolution is perennially the hardest to tackle (“I'll stop procrastinating next year”). My professional development version is to buckle down and focus on publishing. Setting publication goals encourages me explore topics of personal interest while deepening my knowledge of my school’s collection and a variety of research tools and resources. To help fight off the tendency to dawdle, I have set concrete, measurable targets. My goals include updating two of my favorite graduate school papers into articles and submitting each to a minimum of three journals by the end of the semester; turning a recently researched topic into a full-fledged pathfinder for submission to at least two publications by the end of the summer; and creating an annotated bibliography based on a legal history topic I recently developed a personal interest in, by the end of the year. And even if I do not wind up publishing these particular pieces, having specific targets that focus on process rather than product should help me develop healthy habits for publishing.
(2) Help others. Volunteerism is another popular resolution. As a lawyer, my pro bono practice provided some of my most rewarding professional experiences. In the academic law library setting, service to public patrons (especially self-represented litigants) offers a similar opportunity, but can present a special challenge to new law librarians. Public patrons are not our primary patrons and yet usually require more time and guidance than students and faculty, may not recognize the limitations on the amount and types of assistance we can provide, and may evoke a deeper sense of pressure (as well as compassion) precisely because their research is motivated not by mere academic interest but by a real-world legal problem. Instead of being intimidated, my “helping“ resolution is to be proactive by finding ways to improve service to public patrons. Ideas picked up at last year’s annual meeting supplied some starting points, including improving networks with local partners to ensure we provide up-to-date referral information and developing research guides geared towards lay researchers.
(3) Spend more time with friends and family. This resolution makes the list for many, and my professional development angle on it is to be more disciplined about leaving the office on time. Not to generalize, but many librarians are slightly compulsive, overachievers, perfectionists, and/or control freaks. Compounding these factors for new librarians is the “new job smell” - the desire to impress (in fact, astound) our new employers, as well as every single patron we encounter. Finally, for those of us coming to the profession from the deadline-driven realm of legal practice, the sense of urgency can be hard to shake off. Of course, accuracy, thoroughness and follow-through remain crucial, and there are deadlines, even in academia. But academic research is a luxury item of sorts, and there is usually plenty of time to get the job done well without burning the midnight oil. Indeed, the fact there are the occasional instances when a late-night effort is necessary - like when the Death Penalty Clinic brings in a tough research question just two days before their brief is due - only makes it all the more important to enjoy one’s down time and avoid burnout.
(4) Learn something new. This familiar resolution calls to mind the vow I made after graduating library school to never utter the expression “life-long learner” ever again. But even without that annoying catchphrase, how can a new academic law librarian keep up with all the new legal information resources - particularly expanding electronic coverage - emerging every year? Using an unfamiliar research database when a patron is waiting for results can be a daunting and frustrating experience, yet exploring such resources with only hypothetical research needs in mind can wind up a desultory and futile exercise. So my “learning” resolution is to focus on exploring new electronic resources by using them to research and update the publication projects listed above (yes! a twofer!). This strategy provides both a safe environment in which to experiment with unfamiliar products and the motivation of having a “real” research question in mind while exploring and evaluating new information resources.
(5) Get more exercise. In place of the traditional “fitness” resolution, my professional development version is to spend more time as roving librarian, setting a goal of walking the stacks at least five times per week and roaming the reading rooms at least ten times per week, with a minimum of ten minutes per outing. It is often all too easy to get stuck at the computer, absorbed in the latest research question (see Resolution No. 3) or new widget (see Resolution No. 4). Getting “out there” into the library is not only physically and mentally refreshing, it offers a good opportunity to explore the collection, get to know the quirks of the building (our building is particularly quirky), and occasionally find a patron “lost” in the stacks.