Meet CUS Luncheon speaker, Joyce Valenza!

I’ve been a librarian in a variety of settings for the last 40+ years, working in special, public, and school libraries.

Regardless of type, tell us what you think are some of the challenges libraries are facing today. Any suggestions or solutions to overcome the challenges?

My friends never really understood what I did.  I think we have a lot of trouble defining what it looks like/means to be a librarian and getting even our closest friends to recognize our magic.  I did an informal study of my friends and family this past holiday season and discovered that of those in my relatively tech-savvy and educated little sample, not a single one recognized the power of their library cards.  They were completely unaware of access to digital books, streaming video, ancestry tools,

Even more seriously, we see so many issues relating to equity--equity of access and equity of experience.  I see vast gaps between the information poor and the information privileged. We are all part of a library ecosystem--school, public and academic libraries. Across the country and in our state a significant section of that ecosystem is threatened.  A threat to one part of that ecosystem impacts us all.  You are likely seeing this directly in differences exhibited by your own first-year students who have had the privilege of an effective K12 library program and those who have not.

What do you enjoy more, being a presenter or spectator at professional conferences? Why?

I love presenting, but I also love learning. When I present, I miss so much of the energy of an event and I miss both the formal and informal discoveries. Some of those discoveries happen in the halls,  coffee shops, bar and restrooms.

Tell us about your research interests (or passions in life) and how you are able to incorporate them into your library related work.

I am interested in librarianship of all flavors, with a sweet spot for school libraries, search and community engagement--on- and offline.  I love the opportunities we have to curate dynamic digital collections for our communities and to connect with them on social media.  My next project, which we are calling Freshmen Meet the Frames, involves partnering with a team of academic and high school librarians across the state and NJASL to investigate the performance of first-year college students who have had what AASL would call an effective school library program and compare their performance to students with no exposure.  I hope that the findings will allow us to work together to build some innovative information literacy tools to mind and fill the gaps.

Above all, I am passionate about preparing and mentoring new librarians to work and impact the communities you currently serve.