Lindsay H. Matts-Benson is an instructional designer at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN and a presenter for the ACRL licensed workshop Engaging with the ACRL Framework: A Catalyst for Exploring and Expanding Our Teaching Practices. Lindsay first joined ACRL in 2017 and is your ACRL member of the week for October 9, 2017.
1. Describe yourself in three words: Curious, persistent, joyful.
2. What are you reading (or listening to on your mobile device)? How We Learn by Benedict Carey and It’s Okay to Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny Purmort.
3. Describe ACRL in three words: Community, collaborative, connections.
4. What do you value about ACRL? I value that ACRL has both breadth and depth. That it creates small communities out of a large one so it doesn’t seem so massive. I value the emphasis on professional development and the opportunities to create learning.
5. What do you, as an academic librarian, contribute to your campus? As the instructional designer for the University of Minnesota Libraries in the Twin Cities, I work with my colleagues to develop thoughtful, creative and effective instruction in both in-person and online realms. I get to work with amazing colleagues inside and outside of our libraries to have a positive impact on student learning experiences. I’d like to think that I also show students that librarians are essential, informative and cool, but figuring they hardly ever laugh at my jokes, I’m not so sure on that last one.
6. In your own words: In my professional career, I’ve never not worked in a library. I never intended to work in academia—I specialized in youth services in library school and found my way into working in a law school library as both a librarian and an educational technologist before I became an instructional designer at the UMN. My role is unique and I enjoy that I get to weave my passion and experience for pedagogy, technology and information literacy together every day. Through my work co-designing the curriculum for the Engaging with the ACRL Framework workshop, I’ve learned more about how learning more about what is going on in the larger educational theory realm is essential to our work as academic librarians. Taking risks with our teaching practices has never been more important.
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.