Introducing Yourself When You’re a New Librarian (2024)

Please welcome our new First Year Academic Librarian Experience blogger Yoonhee Lee, Learning & Curriculum Support Librarian at McLaughlin Library at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

“So, tell me about yourself…”is a question that I dread. Whether it’s in an interview situation or whenyou’re meeting someone for the first time in a professional or personalsetting, I struggle with how to introduce myself in a succinct but engaging way.I’ve been introducing myself a lot the last couple months, as I’ve started myfirst academic librarian job. I’ve been meeting library colleagues, faculty,staff, and students in the hallway, meetings, orientation events, andclassrooms. Depending on who I was talking to and the situation, I introducedmyself in various ways, ranging from just saying my name to talking about myjob as a Learning & Curriculum Support Librarian.

While in library school theimportance of having a 30-second elevator pitch was stressed throughout mystudies, particularly in relation to looking for work and networking. I’vetried to hone my “I’m a library student looking for a library job” pitch whileparticipating in networking events, attending library conferences, and going tointerviews. Fumbling through answering questions about my new role, I realizedthat I needed to develop something similar for my new professional identity asan academic librarian. But I found it challenging to sum up what I do when Iwasn’t sure or comfortable with this new identity yet. Even saying “I’m alibrarian” still felt foreign to me.

A lot of the questions I havesurrounding how to introduce myself is rooted in anxieties about my newness.Not only was I new, but due to my appearance, I’m often mistaken as a student.I wanted to present myself as someone who is confident and authoritative,particularly when I was talking to faculty about coming into their classroomsand providing library instruction. Trying to transition from library student toa professional librarian, I was super focused on presenting myselfprofessionally.

Fortunately, I had theopportunity to think about introductions differently during an orientationsession for new faculty. In the morning, we did typical introductions, whichinvolved going around the room sharing our name, department, and field ofresearch. Many folks also shared their academic history, including previousinstitutions, degrees, and current projects. Feeling a bit conscious about nothaving research interests yet (imposter syndrome strikes again!), I quicklysaid my name and the subject areas I support. Later in the afternoon, during asession with the Office of Teaching and Learning, we were asked to reintroducedourselves to the person sitting beside us. But, instead of listing our researchinterests, we were asked to introduce ourselves through discussing our parentsand grandparents. This exercise was an intimate experience, as we shared ourpersonal lives and journeys with one another. It was both thrilling andterrifying at the same time.

I felt awkward sharing aboutmy Korean immigrant parents, which usually only my close friends know about —not my work colleagues. I felt vulnerable and a bit exposed. My family,however, is an integral part of who I am and how I view the world, not justpersonally but as a librarian too.

I’ve been inspired by the manylibrarians who’ve been discussing vulnerability, like sharing personal experiences or practicing supportedvulnerability. Engaged and transformativelearning involves taking risks and being vulnerable. In my library instructionclasses (and at the reference desk), I ask students to share their previousexperiences with library research, including challenges they’ve faced. I askthem to share what they already know and what they don’t know. I’m askingstudents to be vulnerable. But I also understand that I can’t ask students tobe vulnerable without being vulnerable myself.

I’m not sure how toincorporate all this when I introduce myself at the beginning of class. Ibelieve in teaching with your whole self and that my teaching is influenced bywho I am, my position in the world, and my worldview. Some of who I am can begleaned from my name and my appearance. Other aspects of myself, like the factthat I’m a new academic librarian that was a student just a few months ago, Iwould need to explicitly share. Usually, you gradually share yourself as youget to know someone better. With my library colleagues, as I developrelationships, they’ll get to know me beyond my name and job title and work.But with students in a classroom, I might only see them one time in a one-shotclass. How do I introduce my authentic self? How can I share but also setboundaries? How do I share what I don’t know without undermining myself?

I don’t have the answers.Maybe I’ll have a better idea once I’m more confident in my role as a newacademic librarian, or maybe I won’t. But I’m super excited to continue tothink and reflect on this throughout my career and hone my “I’m a librarian whocan help you, but also I don’t know everything, and I’m here to learn with you— also I’m a whole person with varying knowledge and lived experience justlike you” pitch to students.