Audrey Gunn
ALA Divisions:
Curious, thoughtful, hopeful.
I am reading "Bad Blood" by Colm Tóibín and "Boys and Oil" by Taylor Brorby.
Many wonderful people.
I’m grateful for the opportunities ACRL has given me to collaborate with colleagues. Since July 2021, I’ve been serving on the ACRL STS EDI Committee. Our co-chairs have been fantastic leaders as we pursue projects to make the profession more equitable, diverse, and inclusive. I also want to give a shout-out to the STS book club; it’s been a great, low-stakes way to get to know other STEM librarians!
Most of my time on campus is spent either teaching or preparing to teach. One of my favorite aspects of my job is that I get to work with students in a variety of STEM disciplines; one day, I might be discussing source evaluation strategies with a senior
seminar in Environmental Studies, and the next, I might be helping prospective Kinesiology majors discover the wonders of MeSH terms. Another way I contribute is by serving on the libraries’ UX team; St. Olaf shares a catalog with our colleagues at Carleton College, and our libraries work together to ensure that the catalog is usable and accessible.
When I was a sophomore in undergrad, I heard Minnijean Brown-Trickey give a speech about her experiences as a member of the Little Rock Nine. There was one phrase she used over and over, a phrase which I’ve never forgotten: “embrace complexity.” “Embrace complexity” has become one of my guiding principles in my work as a librarian, and it’s a principle that I hope to pass on to the students I teach. To me, embracing complexity means resisting the urge to accept simplistic narratives, seeking out new perspectives, practicing both/and ways of thinking. In other words, information literacy at its best is all about embracing complexity.
Title:Research & Instruction Librarian for Natural Sciences & Mathematics
Workplace:St. Olaf College
Location:Northfield, Minnesota