Dear APT Committee,
Here I stand at the last checkpoint as a provisional colleague. I can hardly believe that this day has arrived so quickly. I started that first day in July of 2012, clean shaven, in a purple button down shirt and khakis, wondering if I had made a mistake and worried that I was in over my head. But soon the support, compassion, and guidance of my newfound library family extinguished those fears and enabled me to go forward and do great things.
In six years, I have attended countless professional development activities, created flyers and conference posters, presented at local, state, and national conferences, become adept with a wide array of library technologies, and served on a myriad of committees. All of these activities have brought me great personal satisfaction and growth, but ultimately, they are not what I truly value in my career. It has always been, and will always be, about the students, faculty, and staff that make up our wonderful institution. As our mission accurately states, we are here to empower our communities to excel in the discovery and creation of knowledge, art, and scholarship.
We live at a time where inconceivable amounts of information can be accessed from a small, rectangular box that fits readily into one’s pocket. The rapid onset of the information age has caused many librarians to stop and ponder whether our profession is soon to be mentioned in the same breath as dinosaurs, dodos, and the Ford Model T.
The reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated. Our collections, roles, and spaces may be changing, but we are needed now more than ever before. It is our charge to spur on creativity, promote critical thinking, and teach our communuty how to separate the wheat from the chaff (and increasingly, there is a heck of a lot more chaff). While this rapid change can be unsettling, there is some comfort knowing that while the card catalog may be gone, argyle sweaters are here to stay. That is to say, our guiding mission, vision, and values remain consistent.
With the ceaseless support of my colleagues and our institution, I look forward to many more years of serving our students, faculty, and staff. I hope that my portfolio brings about a sense of pride in my achievements as they are ours to share and that you find my service worthy of tenure and promotion to the rank of Associate Librarian. There is a lot more work to be done!
Respectfully,
Kenneth R. Wierzbowski, MLS
Senior Assistant Librarian