Voyage of the Paradigm Ship

There is a scene in an episode of The Simpsons where Pastor Lovejoy is at the public library, checking out a copy of the Holy Bible. At the circulation desk, the librarian observes (paraphrasing from memory): “Pastor, you have been checking out the Bible every week for the last nine years. Have you ever thought of buying your own copy?” As Pastor Lovejoy leaves for the door, he turns back and says: “Hmm, that’s easy for you to say…on a librarian’s salary.”

That scene is emblematic for me, because I took that plunge and made the mid-career shift from pastoring to librarianship. I guess I wanted to follow those big bucks Pastor Lovejoy was musing about! My name is Gary Daught. I am currently Library Director (since August 2007) of the P.H. Welshimer Memorial Library at Milligan College in northeast Tennessee. My first professional library job was as Reference and Collection Development Librarian at Milligan College (I started in March 2005). I am a 2004 graduate of the School of Information and Library Science at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

You might say that I’ve “fast-tracked” my library career—from grad student to library director in just 3 years. But it feels perfectly natural, and a good fit. Behind that relative dearth of “on the ground” librarian experience lies many years of education, work, and life experience that combine nicely, and serve me well in my current position. Indeed, all the literature I am reading is telling us that libraries at the beginning of the twenty-first century need folk from varied careers, and who bring diverse skill-sets to the table.

I am having a blast. I love the academic environment, and I am intensely interested in exploring how the current and rapidly evolving information ecosystem (information users, information needs, information seeking behavior, information formats, and information delivery) is impacting upon libraries. I want all libraries—and my library in particular—to continue to play an important and relevant role in this evolving ecosystem. But that requires us to be especially attentive to change in the environment; to know our users and anticipate trends; and be willing and able to adapt quickly. It also requires us to identify and become ever more committed to the core values and principles that can serve as anchors for us in the midst of rapid change.

I have always enjoyed research and writing. When I was pastoring, one of my favorite and most satisfying activities was preparation of the weekly sermon. I always typed-out my sermons in mauscript form (complete with cited sources) because I could not trust myself to speak extemporaneously. Indeed, although I know it’s not exactly the same, when our students complain about having to write a 5 or 10 page paper for a class, I frequently note that when I was a pastor I had to research and write a 5 to 8 page paper every week!

Anyway, I started my blog to write about this rapidly evolving information ecosystem and how it is provoking change in the library. My post for December 21, 2008, “Giving credit where it is due” explains how I arrived at the name. If you happen to stumble across this blog, and something I’ve written catches your attention, I hope you will leave a comment and join the conversation.