By Christina Broomfield
Attending the 2015 Symposium was a valuable and informative experience — I am confident that I will carry forward what I learned into all of my professional endeavors from this point forward. The theme of the Symposium, “Social Responsibility, Democracy, Education, and Professionalism,” initially appealed to me because I have not often had opportunities to discuss these topics at length with librarians outside of my institution. It was eye-opening to hear about so many different perspectives, experiences, and ideas throughout the course of the day. I was particularly interested in the discussion of agendas, leadership, and transparency during the Symposium’s keynote discussion, “The Radicalism is Coming from Inside the Library.” As someone who aspires to a position of leadership in an academic library, I found this conversation to be fruitful and thought-provoking. Prior to attending this conference, I had never considered whether or not I brought any “agenda” into the workplace. The idea of challenging the structure of top-down leadership and fostering conversations on any and all levels was inspiring; I found myself thinking about agendas throughout the day, and how these agendas shape libraries, workplace cultures, and academic communities. It was also interesting to think of agendas as a fluid concept and how librarians do not have to be married to a singular underlying motive. I found myself connecting this idea to the American Library Association’s topical public awareness campaign, “Libraries Transform.” What better way to transform communities and integrate core values into the practice of librarianship than by being aware and transparent regarding our agendas?
Christina Broomfield is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Library and Information Science and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Cultural Heritage Preservation at Syracuse University. Christina is the Technology and Training Librarian at the Rochester Regional Library Council and a Circulation Supervisor at St. John Fisher College’s Lavery Library. She received her bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Art History from the State University of New York at Geneseo. She can be found on LinkedIn, and on Twitter @tmbroomfield.