Coconino Community College Library Goes Online: Navigating Remixed Professional Identities in a Reimagined Library

Abstract

In 2010, a community college library in rural Arizona was closed and in its place emerged a reimagined model for library services. The traditional physical library, the print collection, and the library's full staff were replaced with an online library collection, a solo librarian, and a partnership with a local state University library. As this new, online-based library matured, a new relationship with eLearning and an expanded partnership with the University library developed. The first two individuals to serve in this bold new approach to librarianship, Este Pope (2010-2012) and Nick Faulk (2013-2016) share what they learned about establishing and navigating their professional identities both within the academe and in their own lives. Este and Nick will highlight some of the ways working in such an innovative library setting helped to clarify key aspects of their work as librarians, and the impact that the experience had on their professional lives since leaving Coconino. They will touch on both the crisis aspects of working in a setting where funding and support for the library were at stake and transformative aspects that led to expanded academic library services for the community college students along with more direct access to faculty and departments on the small campus. Gaining the knowledge of how institutions operate, working as de facto embedded librarians because of offices in the faculty areas, and serving as both administration and hands-on library support for the college will all be topics for discussion. Este and Nick will provide an overview of the structure of the library and services, will highlight challenges and advantages of the model, and will explain the ways working in this setting transformed their thinking and practice in librarianship.