Interviewer: If you wouldn't mind quickly just introducing yourself with your name, pronouns--Any other information you'd like to share?
Laura: OK, sure. So my name is Laura Tadena. I use she/her pronouns, and I am the Equity and Inclusion Consultant at the Texas State Library.
And kind of something unique about me is that I have worked as a school librarian, an academic librarian, and now most recently at a special library.
So I kind of have a unique viewpoint of librarianship and I've been able to kind
of bring all my experience to one place that that really builds on my strengths.
So that's that's kind of the fun part about me.
And I would consider myself also like a third career librarian, like a--When I started after graduating,
I worked in architecture as an architecture consultant for a little bit, like in facility programing,
and then I worked in education like when the recession hit.
So I worked as a Texas public educator for about maybe six years before transitioning to become a school librarian.
Yeah, so, and then I became a librarian. So I feel like this is my kind of third career in life. I don't know. Who who knows where the future holds?
Interviewer: You talked a little bit about your career background. So what is sort of your educational background?
Laura: Yeah, so my undergraduate degree is in architecture, which is pretty cool because it really provided me like a foundational design background.
And so much of librarianship is soft skills that are transferred from lived experience and kind of just random work experience you pick up.
It's like all of the information coming together.
So my architecture background has really helped form how I move through space, like both the physical space as well as the digital space.
And then also just kind of helps me in regards with like organization of information, and form versus function, things like that.
So I then also switched and got alternatively certified so that I can teach.
And so I do also have a certificate to be able to teach like K through 12, or something like that.
I don't even remember what I have, like middle school up.
But my education experience provided me the opportunity to learn different teaching skills that oftentimes librarianship
forgets that we do, like we teach people how to access information, how to find resources.
In some ways, curriculum design and instructional design is really built off of my background in education
because I've been able to understand how people learn, and how people experience different educational settings,
and and so that's another piece of my education that has been pretty formative to librarianship.
What kind of got me where I am today was I was working as a math teacher and I had been teaching for, you know, maybe five years at the time.
And I had been working as a department chair,
and one of the biggest struggles of my math teachers were struggling with was our students weren't able to read.
And so I started working with the school campus librarian at the time to help incorporate literacy strategies into our math curriculum.
And then, like most librarians, she's like, "You know, have you thought about librarianship?"
So when I entered librarianship, I really entered it with the idea that I was going to be focused on school libraries.
And at the time there was a shortage in Texas, so I was able to work as a school librarian while working on my Master's in Library Science.
And I went through the University of North Texas program and I worked as a school librarian for a few years.
It was a great opportunity. I probably would still be doing it today had I not decided to apply for different jobs.
So I was in one district,
I decided to apply to go to a different district, and I stumbled upon a diversity resident position at the University of Texas.
And so I ended up getting both jobs, getting another school librarian job in the University of Texas job,
and I went with the University of Texas job because of what it would expose me to.
And it was in that position that I really, really was able to see the vast inequities in access, education, educational opportunities, resources.
And so in my diversity resident position, that's where I really honed in on equity and inclusion, and diversity issues,
which were already being talked about in K-12 for many years.
And so figuring out, seeing how organizations work and seeing, you know, being in a primarily white institution, in a primarily white library,
trying to serve a diverse population, was really where I switched gears and wanted to focus on more of the EDI work.
And so that's where I am today at the Texas State Library, which is interesting because when I was initially asked to be part of this,
I wouldn't have considered my work to be digital libraries
but we have been doing so much remote work, so much digital work that really, it is a mindset shift to begin to think,
"Yes, even our our space, the work that we do is a digital library."
We have an archive of webinars and trainings,
qe have web pages devoted to resource guides and informational guides,
we create training videos, and so we have like a YouTube playlist.
And so really what has gotten me here is really thinking about how to get the most information out
to the communities that we don't often reach and really trying to work to bridge some of the gaps.
So that's kind of like a long wind of how I ended up where I am today.
Oftentimes, we hear like--and that was a big intimidating factor--was that I didn't have a literature background,
I don't own any cats, you know, so I don't necessarily fit into this idea of what a library is,
and I think that's kind of something to think about when we do think about digital libraries.
It's it's not just a library that's digital,
like really begin to think about how we're changing our profession, and where our
audience is, and how this concept of digital libraries is bridging that gap
it is the pathways, the tool that we're using to to relay that information.
Interviewer: What is your current job description, and what does the day to day job look like for you?
And the second part of that is what kind of digital work are you doing?
Laura: My job, I am situated within our continuing education division, so our division is, I'm sorry, library development and networking.
And so there's kind of two big pieces to it.
There's the continuing education side and then there's the development networking side where we have grants, our interlibrary loan program,
And a lot of the whole function of it is to support Texas libraries with resources, and training material,
kind of whatever they need to be set up for success. And so my role is the equity and inclusion consultant.
I was initially hired as an inclusive services consultant, but the work has very much shifted,
and so a good portion of my job includes providing the training, and the resources, and access to information around equity and inclusion,
accessibility. And then another piece of it is working internally with our library to help kind of push some EDI initiatives.
And that's kind of been something that has developed over the past year. So that's kind of the the big, kind of broad topics of what I do.
And and within my work, I work both locally, so added within our state library, but also across Texas public libraries, and then also nationally.
So I'm involved in kind of multiple EDI groups.
And so a typical day for me would be something like this, where I'm meeting with somebody,
kind of talking about my work, or talking about a project that I've been on, or in some type of work group where we're working towards something.
And so it that's kind of the nice thing about my job is that no date really
looks the same unless I have strategically planned for it to look a certain way,
right? Like I want a day where I'm only going to be working on my web page, or I want a day where I'm I'm just working on blogs, or whatever.
But typically, it's random meetings with either people in Texas or kind of people across the nation.
And some of the biggest goals in my current job are to push kind of EDI initiatives or EDIA, which is equity,
diversity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives.
I'm on one work group where it is a cohort of other individuals in libraries who are tasked with doing EDIA work in their libraries.
And so we as a group are working where we have a grant right now and we're trying to bring in more people who are doing this work.
And we're trying to kind of consolidate a lot of the work that we're already doing very separately,
and kind of create one big piece for public libraries, or for kind of generally any libraries.
And then Texas, our goal is to to get some training out so that we could begin to kind of see more
inclusive libraries, or help libraries recognize that they're already doing inclusive work
and and maybe they just need additional support here and there to to kind of get to the next level would be the biggest, I would say, current goals.
And like right now and I am really trying to get out a webpage for my work. We have kind of each have like specialty or expertize areas.
And so I'm hoping, I've been trying to get this webpage out for a while.
So that's been the biggest kind of digital that I have right now.
I guess in the past we would have done a lot of training that would have just been in-person workshop-type setting.
We would travel to the areas,
different areas in Texas and provide whatever training that we're doing, and then come back, and and then continue to correspond via email or something.
But what we're starting to do is we're still doing our webinars, we're still doing our trainings,
but now we're doing kind of hybrid sessions where our staff are in person and we're
virtual, and we're trying to provide the training but also have an engaging session.
So that's been really interesting because part of that, too, is the continued learning that happens after the training.
And so it involves getting resources, getting collective or collaborative working notes, using tools that, you know,
one thing we always try to be mindful of is when we're putting on these trainings, who is our audience?
What does their broadband look like? Like will they even have the bandwidth to post Zoom and show cameras without
buffering? And so part of it, too, involves thinking critically about some of the digital divide that also happens within our
profession and recognizing ways to to begin to kind of resolve or support in those cases.
The other kind of big thing that I would think is changing is that collection of of resources.
And so we're really trying to to get the work that we're doing in one place.
And part of Texas is that we are a public library, we are public record.
And so this information also needs to be freely available without any barriers to access that information.
And so right now, for example, I'm working with other state libraries who are also working on internal EDI committees,
and and we're trying to get all those resources in one place so that as our state libraries or any library is deciding,
you know what, "I'm going to start a committee." OK, let's go to the committee folder.
What information do we have? What examples do we already have?
Or, I'm going to write a survey. What example surveys have already been published that we can kind of pull from.
So it's kind of, again, bringing in this collection of resources in one place that in the past would
have probably just been a webinar with the PowerPoint, and so now, or a webpage.
And so now, it's really thinking about how do we have shared folders, how do we have collective notes,
how can we compile all these different pieces from all these different agencies and organizations?
Because every library is using something different. Not all libraries have a Google account.
Not all libraries have SharePoint. Not all libraries have Microsoft Word.
And so really thinking about the tools,
the access behind the tools, and the barriers that may be present when we're developing and designing the resources that we're sharing.
That's like always kind of on our forefront. And then on top of all that, making sure it's all accessible and meets accessibility standards.
Interviewer: You sort of alluded or mentioned this a little bit earlier, but thinking about sort of all of this different digital work that you do,
like if someone asked you how you defined what a digital librarian is, what would your response be?
Laura: I think in the past, I probably would have been like, well, someone that works with a digital library.
Like it would just would have been something kind of blanket like that.
Like when I was at UT,
I did some work with the LLILAS Benson Library to ingest like all the this digital collection of resources from Guatemala.
And in that sense, I probably would have considered myself a digital librarian then because I was working with digital material, or once
you know, physical material, but now digitized.
But now I think as we're changing and we're in this big information age, I think a digital librarian is anybody that's working with digital material,
anyone that's putting, collecting, curating resources to be accessed, both physically and also digitally.
But you are adding in that electronic resource sharing platform.
So I do think that digital libraries and digital librarians are working electronically,
providing information that's available online, and hopefully digital librarians are guided under like access for everybody, barrier free, open access.
All those things hopefully are at that root so that we are providing information to everyone.
Interviewer: Sort of in relation to that, how do you see digital librarianship continuing to change in the next five to 10 years?
Laura: Well, I think because of the pandemic, one of the things that has happened from it is that there has been a recognition of,
oh, yeah, not everyone has the same access. And so the Internet should be
like, it's not a utility like it is, everybody should have access to that,
and I think how it's going to change is it's going to be a continued push for more open resources, less paywalls, less barriers.
And I think there's going to be a lot of struggle with that because it is hard to capitalize when things are open and freely available.
And so I also think a big shift is working within the current information structure we have.
And we have misinformation, interpreted information, potentially factual information,
and so really honing in on our ability to evaluate sources and also critically question who these sources are,
who is publishing this information, what authority or power do they have, and what are they gaining from that information?
Because I think a lot of what we share sometimes is potentially perpetuating a cycle of power.
And so I hope that there is a shift on providing kind of open information that's unbiased and that we're able to evaluate these sources as well.
I don't know if I answered your question, but that's kind of at least how I see a shift in in my work,
kind of really investigating the infrastructure behind what allows us to have digital
libraries and really working against current systems that continue to perpetuate inaccess.
Interviewer: What do you think? The LIS and MSIS programs should be teaching current students about digital libraries and what advice
would you have for students who are interested in pursuing this kind of nebulous digital library career?
Laura: I would start kind of on the back end and say that you're really thinking about digital librarianship is in everybody's work.
I don't think it's going to be siloed. I don't think you can be a youth services librarian without having some digital librarianship embedded
into your work, or I don't think you're going to be able to do outreach without digital librarianship.
The same way if you're working in an academic library, you know, you have LibGuides,
you have research consultations, or webpages, or programing, and all of that is digital librarianship.
And so I would hope that our programs are helping students really think about digital librarianship in a more broader, transferable skills asset.
Oftentimes, people kind of think of the digital component or computers, and it's scary,
especially as more and more library programs shift towards becoming Information Science programs,
and really encouraging students to think how they are already currently using digital skills.
They're on their phones, they're on social media, they're going to certain websites,
and so how might they continue to do that?
And the other piece of it, too,
is to begin to to teach digital librarianship with a critical lens and going back to teaching about the history of redlining,
because there is a connection between redlining and also infrastructure.
And so there's something called, I think it's called like "web redlining" or "Internet redlining",
which basically is where different communities have access,
have multiple avenues, like different Internet providers that they can choose from that have competitive
rates where other communities maybe that are lower income or less affluent may not have that competition.
And so their rate be incredibly high, and so they may not have access.
And so teaching the digital skills, how to be a digital librarian,
but also really thinking about how there is also this long history where there are people that don't have access.
And so how do we begin to carve the path and transform our work so that it's no longer "It's here,
come to me," but "I'm creating it and I'm taking it to you."
And so how do we get our libraries, whether it's physical or digital,
out of this area that we've only really encompassed and moving it forward and working towards bridging that gap, is my soapbox speech.
I mean, that's that's what I would hope.
And part of it, too, like within that context, like things that I wish I would have learned,
like I learned about kind of the user experience and like the
collection piece of that, like the retrieval piece, the information retrieval piece,
but part of it also I hope that when there are those heavily focused technical classes,
we're also teaching about how within the user experience,
there are like algorithms that we could be using or that we are implementing that could be creating barriers.
Or I think there's like a book called like Algorithms of Opression, which is really good.
But just recognizing that, you know, and teaching students to really begin to think about how not every user is experiencing the
same experience and that how it can vary and how those variations can create barriers.
Interviewer: What do you love about your job, about digital libraries, and what keeps you motivated to keep going in this field?
Laura: What keeps me motivated is that there are a core amount of people, like I have
some people that I work closely with and then also aspirational friends outside of library land,
like in the nation that I just am in awe of because they're doing such great work and really changing the profession.
And so I think that's kind of what keeps me going,
is knowing that I am in some ways making a change and am providing information in a way that people have access to it,
they get to see it. Otherwise, you know, maybe it wouldn't be there.
And the thing that I like about my work is that I get to do a lot of outreach,
and I get to engage with communities in ways that maybe,
we wouldn't have traditionally been doing. And so I'm going to continue to kind of keep pushing my barriers, and keep trying to
get out there, and continue to provide the resources and information that people need.
I like that I can find anything. Right? Like what I don't like is that I can't find everything.
Like I when I worked at UT, oh my gosh, the access to the library is amazing.
I don't know who is watching this, I don't know how this is going to get transcribed.
Take advantage of your library right now, because when you graduate, that library does not exist.
Your library from there is your public library. Or if you decide to go back to get a PhD,
like the main motivator for me to go back to school to get a PhD is so that I could get access to a university library right now.
I love my public library. I also I also have access to databases at TSLAC, but in no way does it compare to university access.
And so the fact that the average person doesn't have access to those types of resources speaks to the world that we are currently living in.
And what motivates me, or what I love about libraries is the potential to have that for everyone.
And so that's what's keeping me motivated, is getting, in a sense,
not just like digital libraries, but all the resources that libraries provide for everybody.
Interviewer: Is there anything else that we didn't cover that
you'd like to talk about in regards to digital libraries? Anything you really want people watching this video to know?
Laura: You know, whoever's watching, you're going to be graduating soon, and you're going to be going out in the profession.
Continue to learn, like you're what you're being taught right now is a subset of what other individuals are finding important for you to know.
And so if there's something that you want to know more about that you are interested in,
there is probably a librarian already that is focused on that.
And so find those networks, find those communities of people that are doing the type of work that you want to do,
because that's what's going to help push you forward and continue to stay kind of in trend of what's happening and so that you're able to,
you know, begin to design digital libraries and spaces proactively instead of reactively, and really understand the communities
that you're serving. And also, take advantage of your library right now because that's going to go away eventually.
So use it, appreciate it, and hopefully design so that people can also have access to that.