Jason Griffey

Philosophy of Librarianship
October 2009

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library

— Shelby Foote

You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and
that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians.
— Monty Python

Why am I a librarian? I think of my librarianship as part and parcel of the things that I hold valuable;
there is a set of deeply rooted beliefs that I follow in being a librarian.

I believe that in a democratic society, the availability of differing points of view strengthens and
tempers the people of the society. Every modern society links knowledge and information access to
economic success. The more you know, and the more access to information you have, the more
successful you can be. The place of the library in our culture is as the cornerstone of that
information economy, and my place is as an enabler to those within the information economy that
have an information need.

I also greatly value the freedom of information, especially as it relates to the academic library. The
exposure of the incoming college students to the world beyond their previous surroundings and
studies is a key part of the academic library and librarian. To be able to expose them to alternative
points of view, and to give them the tools and skills they need to sort through this new world is a
central part of my concept of librarianship.

In my everyday practice of librarianship, my position of the Head of Library Information

Technology allows me to touch people in ways that other aspects of librarianship do not. IT is the
future of our information economy. By positioning myself in a leadership role, I have moved within
Lupton Library to effect as much positive change as I can to reach the widest possible audience of
patrons.

The other driving force for me in librarianship is the growing need for an increased understanding
of literacy as not simply the ability to read and write, but instead as the ability to interact
meaningfully with information. This is increasingly a more interactive skill, less passive, and is tied to
the ability to parse larger and larger amounts of digital data. My understanding of what it is to be a
librarian is closely allied to the growth of digital information, and the tools necessary to deal with it. I
see it as central to my position to introduce people to this technology, to keep up with said
technology, and to stay abreast of the most recent ways that information is created and filtered.

By putting technology together with the traditional role of the librarian as guide to knowledge, I feel
that moving forward, I can ensure that students and faculty at UTC have a positive experience from
the Lupton Library.