Marina Morgan is a metadata librarian at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL. Marina has been a member of ACRL for 6 years and is your ACRL Member of the Week for February 8, 2021.
Describe yourself in three words: Curious, driven, empathetic.
What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? I have just finished re-reading Useful, Usable, and Desirable by Aaron Schmidt and Amanda Etches. Right now I am going back and forth between Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug. I am taking my last course in the User Experience Design, a Cornell Certificate Program, and these books help me better understand the UX and UI concepts. On my commute to and from work, I listen to Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a profound narrative that transforms you.
Describe ACRL in three words: Opportunities, collaboration, support.
What do you value about ACRL? I value the opportunities that ACRL provides for e-learning and collaboration. I have taken several ACRL professional development courses and I applied them in my day-to-day activities. Over the years I joined as many Interest and Discussion Groups as I could and met inspiring professionals. I also value the opportunity that ACRL provided to academic librarians in Technical Services. As the ACRL Technical Services Interest Group Convener, I am proud to continue to promote the value of technical services in higher education.
What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus? As the Metadata Librarian, I wear many professional hats. Apart from the cataloging and metadata attributions that focus on providing a seamless flow from the discovery of information to the delivery of content in any format, I am the Modern Languages liaison. In this role, I provide instructional support to the Spanish Department applying new technologies to pedagogy in the humanities, such as Omeka and ArcGIS StoryMaps. I am also the Institutional Repository administrator and I co-manage the digital collections. My hope is that each contribution makes a positive impact on the campus and on our students’ academic achievements.
In your own words: I consider myself a perpetual student. As much as I like to help students and make a difference in their academic experience, I like to learn new things and keep myself updated and connected to my professional world. Last year, ten years after I graduated with a Master’s Degree in Information Studies from the University of Toronto, I decided to venture into the IT world and I graduated with Post-Master’s Certificate in Library and Information Science, Web Programming and Information Architecture Pathway, from San José State University. One of the courses that had a major impact was the UX with Aaron Schmidt. I discovered the User Experience Design, a brand new world to me, and I was fascinated. Because of my curiosity and desire to discover and implement new tools in the library, I gathered all the courage I had and decided to build Find@Roux, a custom web application that will provide unique library service by assisting users to navigate the library stacks virtually. I end this reflection about life as an academic librarian by thanking all my colleagues at the Roux Library for their collegiality. Go Mocs!
Editor’s Note: Are you an ACRL member? Would you like to be featured as ACRL Member of the Week? Nominate a colleague? Contact Mary Jane Petrowski at mpetrowski@ala.org for more information.