In this column, we interview library and information professionals – finding out how they got to where they are and any advice they have for students or new professionals.
Our latest interview subject is Annette Beattie.
When I visited the UK last year I found out about the Business & IP Centre, which is part of the British Library – seeing your connections made me think of this. Why do you think we don’t have such a close/obvious connection between libraries and business here?There’s a conversation … I think COVID recovery offers an opportunity for librarians and businesses to explore working together. Libraries as key community (in the largest sense of the word) resources can play a tangible role in helping address unemployment, job-seeking, reskilling, work preparedness, business research, entrepreneurism, innovation etc. Some might call it a brokering or networking role. I think of it as being active in identifying and developing links and partnerships between sometimes disparate people, groups and ideas. There is a balance to be had and protected around libraries being non-commercial, neutral spaces. This is achievable.
I was snooping around your LinkedIn profile and you haven’t always had straightforward librarian roles. Can you tell our readers about your previous roles and how each led to the next?
I fell into librarianship. I’m a first-generation immigrant and first in the family to go to university. I did my undergraduate probably more because it was expected of me, than because I knew what I was doing, When I came back from my OE, I worked as a caregiver for a tetraplegic and then landed the shelving job at National Library. After qualifying I worked at National Library’s INNZ, Alexander Turnbull Library and the School Library Service, before heading to the South Island for a few years. I ended up working in commission sales, running a backpackers and a pub, before finally, getting a librarian role at TVNZ. My initial contract was to set up a library in the children’s production department. I used to look along the corridor to the newsroom and liked what was happening there. I pitched the need for a news library in the South Island to some people and luckily for me they agreed and supported its establishment. After six years of both mundane, and some of the country’s most high-profile, events I decided it was time for a change and moved back to Wellington to work in various central government agencies.
I found I was invariably the first new hire at the tail-end of an acrimonious restructure and tasked with bringing a new vision for the library or information service to life. In such situations, morale and productivity are low; people have forgotten how amazing they are and what they are capable of, and they are often conflicted about what they want to do. Realising a new direction always provides opportunities to examine what is being done and why to keep the best of it and to innovate. Developing partnerships seems an obvious way to make sure what is usually a subset function within a larger business is kept strong, outward-looking, and inspired. I moved to local government and public libraries when I was approached about a new role which was too good to pass up.
A few years ago, I felt I’d had enough of librarianship and libraries. We always seemed to be fighting the same battles and discussing the same things. I moved into a new role – working with eight competing organisations. The role was tasked with supporting cross-sector senior management committees and specifically, with trying to establish some ways of working collaboratively despite various priorities and constraints. The role allowed me to work very closely and get to know many very senior world-class professionals. It really helped me to get clear what my drivers and values are and decide where I want to put my energies.
It’s been quite a circuitous route to realise my heart is in local government because you make a tangible impact on the community in which people live; and libraries because of the positive role we can play in people’s lives. Ironically, very soon after that penny dropped for me, my current job was advertised.
Is this the career you always intended to go into?
At secondary school and university, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I did know it had to combine doing with thinking; make a difference; be meaningful, challenging, varied; be something that could be worked at anywhere in the world, and be reasonably systematic but not stifling so. I never thought of librarianship. I was looking at journalism, the Defence Forces, or working in large public gardens with a view to ultimately managing one. Falling into librarianship opened an unexpected career that has delivered all that I was looking for. I like the eclecticism of it.
What was your idea of what librarians are and what they do before you became one?
I didn’t really have one – although I was always a library user, always felt at peace in a library, and especially loved the huge variety of reading material they offered. The small bits of librarianship that I noticed all seemed to be very passive and administrative.
If you were meeting someone who had just finished their undergraduate degree and was contemplating doing a postgraduate LIS qualification what would you say to them? What sort of personal attributes do you think you need to go into LIS work?
We are a country which needs to grow an even bigger pool of courageous leaders. I’d say get out and live, a lot. Read widely and deeply, think, reflect, join dots. So much of our work in libraries is about realising where people are at and helping them grow. Empathy, alongside an ability to catalyse information quickly, is crucial. As a librarian, a lot of our roles are adjuncts to the main business. Pragmatic idealism alongside knowing your professional value and being adaptable and comfortable in different contexts is invaluable. Being able to articulate how and why your skills make a difference is important. Libraries and librarians provide stable and invaluable services and skill sets, based on centuries of development. This seems particularly relevant as humanity grapples with endless evolution.
Have you got any librarian mentors/people who influenced you or you admire/learned from? What did they teach you?
Not formally. I do have a big group of people across all sorts of professions who always manage to impart wisdom and experience and keep that desire to grow as a person and a professional, alive. Over the years, I have learned lots from my staff – they’ve challenged me, helped rub rough edges off, shared knowledge. I’m especially grateful to quite a long list of people!