Interviewer: Before we get started with the questions, would you mind introducing yourself with your name,
where you work, and any other information you would like to share? Gabby: Sure.
Hi, my name is Gabby Hernandez. I'm the open education librarian at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV).
This is my second year sitting in this role as the open education librarian,
and I look forward to this interview. Interviewer: What is your current job description and this can include any duties that are assigned to you,
what your typical day looks like, or what your biggest goals are in your current job.
Gabby: So as the open education librarian, I facilitate open educational resource (OER) adoption, adaption, and creation at the institution through advocacy,
training, outreach, organization and collaborative efforts with faculty,
students, staff, administrators, and the community of open educators as a whole.
And currently, my duties include lots, and lots, and lots of outreach to different stakeholders across campus.
I host workshops both independently through the library and in partnership with other departments across campus.
I also engage in professional development, both personally and providing professional development to different stakeholders.
And that could be library staff or just in general staff at the university,
and of course, faculty and students. And I engage in efforts to reward faculty for their efforts and going towards open education.
And that could be either a monetary reward or just recognition for their hard work that they're doing,
as well as committee work and election development work.
And a typical day on the job is I try to set aside a little bit of time to kind of read,
and catch up on the listservs, and what's happening in the field of open education.
It's a fairly new and emerging field. There's changes that are happening almost daily
so I try to set aside some time to make sure I'm reading and keeping up with what's happening now,
to be able to offer that to my faculty and to provide this information to staff.
I do lots, and lots, and lots of outreach and lots of content creation, so typically I am the first person in this role.
So there's a lot of original content creation.
So everything is pretty much made either from scratch or getting ideas from other people who
have worked as an open education librarian and have been kind enough to share their work.
So things like brainstorming ideas for new programs and new outreach opportunities for students and faculty, website content,
I have created both a library guide and a textbook affordability project website for our faculty to use, a marketing website,
content, infographics, outreach, communication and registration forms, call for proposals, presentations.
You name it, I've created it. But that was something that I didn't really think about before I applied for the position.
But it is really, really fun to be able to create almost on a daily and brainstorm on new ways and new things I can
do to help our faculty adopt open educational resources or just textbook affordability practices.
And my biggest goals right now that I have are to increase the number of zero cost and low cost courses that are offered at UTRGV,
and that doesn't necessarily mean we are adoption or the adoption of open educational resources,
just having some sort of transparency when it comes to the cost of textbooks.
So that way, when our students register for class, they understand exactly how much they need to budget for their textbooks,
whether that be absolutely nothing because there's no textbook or the textbook is provided
by the library, or it's an open educational resource, or it's faculty-created content,
or maybe it's a low cost course. So that would be any type of material learning material that's less than forty dollars.
So maybe the textbook costs less than forty dollars, or there's a homework system or an access code, but all of that will be forty dollars or less.
So it helps with student planning. And that's one of our biggest goals right now,
is to have that transparency with our students and allow them to understand what they need to plan for when registering for a class.
I also want to raise the student awareness of open educational resources and textbook affordability and the initiatives
that the university is putting forth to ensure that they have access to the materials that they need and of course,
implementing more open educational practices on campus and educating faculty about open pedagogy and backwards design and, you know,
renewable assignments of things where they can create where students can create content and have it be utilized and used beyond just that grade.
So more student-centered learning where students are engaged and they feel proud of the work they're doing because they know it's going to be seen and used by other students,
either locally or globally. I do work with the bookstore and we have some conversations there.
We are a team of three: so it's the scholarly communications librarian, the open education librarian, and the institutional repository specialist.
And so the institutional repository specialist really focuses on the institutional repository itself and getting things uploaded into the repository.
And then our scholarly communications librarian oversees both of us.
And so he really looks at the global picture of our department.
And then I focus on the open education portion.
So all of the things I just talked about, and we also have one other person who is a faculty fellow for academic affairs.
And so he is a faculty member, but he is very much engaged in this work and he helps us as well.
So we are a very small team, but we are mighty and I feel like we have a big impact on campus.
Interviewer: You already mentioned a little bit about some of the digital work you do, but if you want to expand on that and talk about any,
maybe if you work with any specific digital collections or anything related specifically to Texas that you think is really cool.
Gabby: So in my work as the open education librarian,
I mainly work with open educational resources and those are free teaching and learning materials that can be used,
modified, or reused without having to ask for copyright permission because of the open licensing associated with the materials.
And so that's really the digital materials that I work with, implementing these digital resources into courses and classes.
And I also work with and we're building the infrastructure to be able to have the creation of OER happen
on our campus and to engage in open pedagogical practices and have those types of resources then
created and hosted inside of our institute institutional repository,
so the kinds of digital collections I work with, I really don't work with them, but I definitely search them.
I search institutional repositories as well as open repositories and any collection that
has been created by universities, or so like independent publishing or campus publishers.
I search those digital collections and kind of collect and curate content to then be provided to our faculty in an easier, digestible format.
So I do create different mini collections on different topics so faculty can see what type of
OER is available for their subject instead of having to search every repository out there.
And specific to Texas, we do have our own OER repository called OER Texas (OERTX) and it's a really, really interesting tool.
And what you can do is when you search it, you can not only connect with other institutions that are engaging and creating OER,
but you can see what Texas faculty have either created for their course and published openly or
what are some open educational resources that Texas faculty members are using and their course.
And they have uploaded that into the repository as well.
So it's really cool to see which institutions are champions of our creation and utilization across Texas.
Interviewer: What is your educational and career background and what brought you to digital libraries?
Gabby: So my educational and career background is, I would say, a little bit unique.
I received my undergraduate degree at Texas State in interdisciplinary studies,
and I am a Texas certified teacher and I taught for seven years first grade through fourth grade,
and I taught both in the Austin area as well as where I currently am in the Rio Grande Valley.
And so I kind of split that up. I spent three years in the Austin area and four years in my current area teaching students.
But my overall goal and the reason I became a Texas teacher was because I thought I wanted to be a school librarian.
So I decided to go ahead and go back to school and
get my degree, and that kind of changed a little bit. Instead of going into school librarianship,
I decided to go the route of public librarianship because I felt that my background
in teaching would set me up well to be a youth services librarian in a public library. I worked part time as a youth services librarian assistant for the entirety of my degree
so I was taking classes and working part time at the same time. And when it came time for me to complete my practicum,
I actually ran into a small problem and I wasn't able to volunteer for the city I worked for as well as work there part time.
So I was in kind of a dilemma and I decided to take a leap of faith
and I reached out to the local academic libraries and asked if they would host my practicum there
and I completely fell in love with just the possibilities and the variety that academic librarianship offers,
which I didn't even really know about because I was kind of in my little path of youth services.
So I completed my practicum at an academic library and in that time I was able to spend my time in every single
different department learning how all the different departments work and how they work together in certain areas,
and how they are also very independent in other ways as well.
And right after I received my degree,
a part time position for an open educational resource librarian came up at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.
And I went ahead and applied and tried and I was able to transition from that part time position to a full time position
and I couldn't be happier. My path wasn't necessarily straight,
it was a little winding.
And I am so happy to be doing the work I'm doing and to be able to relate what I learned and experienced as a K-12 teacher to really
understand what faculty members are going through in their courses, and time constraints, and how long it takes to create original content,
which is what a lot of K-12 teachers do, as well as seeing how a lot of the practices that I implemented in my classroom as a K-12 teacher-
I see those same practices now being implemented in higher ed.
And so it's really interesting and I feel like I can have lots of conversations with faculty and relate to their needs in the classroom.
So even though I do have that early education background, I see how it can connect when it comes to finding open educational resources for faculty,
as well as how to understand backwards design and look at a curriculum and see where
we can implement certain teaching practices or certain materials in their course.
There is so much work within our field, and sometimes I think we do students a disservice when we don't expose them to the true possibilities.
So in my short time, I've graduated and I've been a librarian for a little over two years
and that time I was a youth service assistant, I was a youth services librarian, and now an open education librarian.
So I worked in the children's department and then I was able to work in the teens department as the librarian,
and now I work in an academic setting and they're so different, but also so very connected.
And a lot of the things I learned about programing in the public library is a lot
of the things how I'm implementing in the academia world, and as well as like I was
talking about, the things I learned as a teacher in K-12 and youth services.
There's still some things there that we can relate to and implement in academia as well.
So, yes, there are just so many possibilities out there in our career and our field.
And, you know, I may I'm happy that I took that leap and just, you know, took a look at what academia, library academic librarianship had to offer,
And I couldn't be happier. I'm so, so happy to have made the transition, even though I still feel very close to my roots as an early educator.
Interviewer: What do you love about digital libraries and what keeps you motivated to work in this field?
Gabby: What I love about digital libraries is the constant innovation.
I feel like I am a pioneer in this field.
Every single day I get to try new things.
Like I said, this is a position that had never been created before, so I'm really paving the way of what this role could possibly look like.
And I think digital libraries are really amazing about giving people the opportunity to do so.
I can-
I love that I get to lead either new initiatives or scale initiatives that weren't able to be done prior to my role being set as a full time role.
But on the other hand, it can be super overwhelming at times.
There's a lot of things that we're juggling all at the same time so it can feel a little daunting,
and not having that clear path of, you know, "this is where you should go" can also be a little scary.
But for me, when I see faculty engage in this work, it just motivates me even more.
They're so excited and they're so willing to help and wanting to try new things
that it makes me want to continue to help them, as well as when I hear student stories.
So I get to work with textbook affordability and I hear what students have to do, or
have done, or their daily struggles when it comes to affording higher education.
But they're still there, and they still go to courses, and they're still go to classes, and they still try,
even though they're struggling with all of these different things. It also motivates me to continue my work.
It recharges my batteries and helps me create that next outreach opportunity for faculty or for students to engage in this work.
Interviewer: Do you think open educational resources are the future of academia? Like do you think more and more courses will be turning towards those instead of
textbooks you have to spend lots of money on? Gabby: I hope that it becomes more widely used and widely accepted, but I always defer back to
what is best for our students to learn the content and the learning objectives that are set by the course,
and maybe that's an open educational resource because it's free, and maybe that's a traditional textbook because that's what's available,
or maybe it's a library-licensed materials or something that the library can purchase for the students.
I don't think that there's one best resource, but it's nice to have this, you know,
new field and open educational resources are constantly being created for both lower and upper level courses.
And so I feel like the more we talk about it and the more we engage in these conversations,
the more we can have more equitable resources within higher education.
And what's really wonderful about OER, and what I think that separates it apart from other resources, is not actually the cost savings,
but the ability to modify it.
So the ability to input more diverse voices, or have unique viewpoints added in, or different, you know, differing viewpoints,
I think that's what takes education to the next level beyond just it being a free resource.
So, yes, I do hope that it becomes more a more common practice amongst faculty members in higher education.
Interviewer: What are digital libraries? It seems like everyone has their own definition
so how would you define digital libraries and digital librarianship?
Gabby: So I also think I have a kind of unique definition of digital libraries and digital librarianship,
because to me, a digital library is any library that is looking at the current possibility that technology affords
us and reimagining their current services to implement technological advances within current library services.
And I also see digital librarianship in the same way where, you know,
what are librarians doing to utilize digital resources or software to enhance the library itself or the services that we provide to our patrons?
So I see it more as a broad umbrella, like is this library implementing digital practices,
new technology into the library to keep up with technological advances of today?
I bring it back to my personal experiences, so working as a youth services librarian assistant, what were we doing to add technology?
You know, what services were we providing that help students and children keep up with the technological advances? As well
as, you know, especially when I was working as a teen librarian, our teens are very, very, very into technology.
Their school requires lots of technical technology. So creating computer classes and things like that where we're engaging students
and just people in general in how to advance their knowledge of technology.
And then with academia, you know, we have institutional repositories and metadata librarians and all of these other things.
systems librarians, where they're really working with like a fully online and digital environment.
So I think to me it could span that entire range.
Interviewer: And then what are some common challenges that digital librarians face?
Gabby: Honestly, I feel like one of the biggest challenges for digital librarians is capacity.
So there's so many amazing things, and projects, and opportunities that could be integrated into whichever institution or library you're working at.
But again, like I said, we are a very small team, so we can't do everything, even though we may want to.
So I would say that that kind of holds us back at certain times, you know.
Really having to analyze which outreaches can I do that is going to make the most impact, but also where I can still provide great service.
And, you know, in a perfect world, we wouldn't have to make those decisions.
We would always be able to say, yes, we can help you, we can provide that service.
But from my experience, digital librarianship, you're either working solo or with a very small team.
So, again, that capacity to be able to do everything you want doesn't always exist.
Interviewer: How do you think digital librarians and
digital libraries will change in the next five years?
Gabby: So digital libraries and librarianship, I feel like, are ever-changing.
I can't imagine that I would be having the same conversation that I'm having right now in five years.
I don't think my position will look the same. I don't think my daily duties would be the same.
I think, again, with technological advances, new resources, new software, new opportunities, you know,
I think whatever comes, a digital library or digital librarianship has to change and mold to those new, exciting opportunities.
So I think also that there will be more specific roles within librarianship over the more broad roles that we have right now.
So like, let's say, a scholarly communications librarian. That can mean so many different things.
It can mean somebody who is familiar with the institutional repository. It can mean somebody who works with OER.
It could mean somebody who works with copyright.
It could be someone who works with open access and open publishing. Like, it could mean so many different things,
and often it is. They are one umbrella that works on all of those things.
So what my hope is that in the next five years, those positions will turn into more specific roles, like mine as an open education librarian.
So I work with open education and open educational practices. Not necessarily, you know, I touch on some of those other topics,
but there's another person on my team that could maybe take on copyright, and another
person that could take on the institutional repository, and so on and so forth.
So my hope is that in the next five years,
the positions will go from very broad positions to more specific positions to help create better services for our patrons.
Interviewer: What do you think Library and Information Science programs (LIS) should be teaching students about digital libraries,
and what advice do you have for students who are interested in pursuing a career in digital librarianship?
Gabby: I think that LIS programs should really talk more about the possibilities
because there are so, so, so many and also have students look to the future.
Just because these are the current positions that are available right now doesn't mean that there's not going to be
new ones and new titles that are going to come out very soon or in the near future because of the way things are changing.
Even my role as an open education librarian,
there's not a whole lot of us out there, but I regularly keep track of the job boards and I see that, oh, OK.
Well, now this state is getting one, or this university is getting one in, this university is getting one.
So it's starting to become more common where maybe, you know, five years ago, maybe you wouldn't have ever seen what this title is.
So I would say as an advice to students is just keep track of
what jobs are being posted. What does it look like? What are the responsibilities attached to it?
Don't look at the title and say, "I don't know if that fits me." Really click on all of them and look at what are the responsibilities,
the job duties, because that could spark an interest, or idea, or say, "Oh, I wonder if there's librarianship in this part or in this part."
It's hard to know because everything does change so quickly when it comes to digital
libraries and digital librarianship and there's just so many paths that are possible.
So I think programs need to do a better job of enlightening students on how to discover different paths.
And for students,
my advice would be to just keep an eye out, and watch those job boards, and see what's out there, and see what may be of interest to you,
and to not hesitate to try something new if you think you might be interested.
There's so many different titles to positions, and it could mean the exact same thing
as a different job title, or it could be the same job title and it's two totally different responsibilities,
so I would say just really look into them, click on them, read them, sign up for job boards, and look at them nationwide.
Maybe you live in Texas, but see what other states are doing,
and maybe that can give you an opportunity to say, "Oh, I really like what this state's doing.
Let me see if any library within Texas is doing that same thing."
So zoom out a little bit to really see what this field has to offer, because it's a lot.