And so it begins . . .

After several recent conversations with colleagues, I noted one recurring theme: so much of what librarians do is invisible. That is to say there are many components of our work that we perform and no one really knows who does them, how they are done, or why they are done. During a recent meeting with a representative from human resources, one of my colleagues was asked to tell about the contributions she has made to our organization. As she began her list, the person who asked the question said repeatedly, "You do that? I had no idea."

Maybe part of the reason much of what we do is invisible is because we do it quietly, without regard for getting credit. Another reason may be that we tend to create work for ourselves--things we notice no one was doing that need attention. I also suspect that no one really understands the job of a librarian in this day and age, so it's easy to assume that we are doing certain things, without really knowing what we are up to most of the time.

For whatever reason, many things we do end up being invisible which may not be the best practice for our profession. This past weekend, four of us spent a day working together. During our conversation, one of the librarians stopped to do something for a colleague. At that point,  we realized we need to bring these practices to light and examine how they impact our organizations. Through a partnership of contributing librarians, we hope to look at the evolving role of librarians and how our work impacts our patrons.