Name: Audrey Gunn
STS Position you are seeking: EDI Officer
Current workplace and position: St. Olaf College, Research & Instruction Librarian for Natural Sciences and English
pronouns: she/her
Tell us more about yourself and how you became a librarian.
I was privileged to have a wonderful local public library growing up; I started volunteering there every summer when I was twelve, and it was at this point that I realized that some people actually got paid to work in libraries. By the time I entered undergrad, I was seriously considering librarianship as a career -- to the extent that when my first-year seminar professor brought us to the library for a library instruction day, I saved the handout we were given in case I wanted to adapt it for my own teaching someday. I still have it somewhere! After two years as a student worker in my college library, I applied to MLIS programs, and I've been in the field ever since.
How long have you been involved in STS and what attracted you to the section?
I sometimes say that I became a science librarian accidentally, but I've stayed in this field deliberately. My B.A. was in English and German, but I happened to find a student job at a science library in grad school, and then did my teaching practicum at a medical library. When I found out that my first job post-grad school, as a distance education librarian, would also involve serving as a liaison to several STEM departments, I decided that it was meant to be! I joined STS in the fall of 2018, and have been a member ever since. As the only STEM librarian at the small liberal arts college where I now work, STS has really been a lifeline for me in terms of meeting and learning from more experienced colleagues.I've served on two STS committees -- previously, the EDI committee, and currently, the Research Committee -- and I also enjoy attending STS Book Club meetings when I get the chance.
How have you demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion?
I believe that one of the most important aspects of EDI work is a commitment to continual learning, and in that spirit, I actively seek out relevant webinars, articles, and other opportunities. For example, in the fall of 2023, I completed a six-week course known as the Inclusive STEM Teaching Project, which is designed for STEM faculty and grad students, and which enabled me to have some mutually enlightening conversations with my own STEM faculty about how each of us incorporates EDI work into our teaching. One ongoing interest of mine is how critical information literacy can be applied to STEM fields; for example, in disciplines where peer review is held up as the ultimate (and sometimes the only) form of authority, how might librarians help our students explore the value of other forms of authority/ways of knowing, such as those depicted by Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass?
My work on EDI projects has itself been fairly diverse. For instance, last year I served on a team of library staff who had the delightful dilemma of figuring out how to spend several thousand dollars on books related to antiracism, LGBTQ+ rights, and other EDI-related topics. Another project I was quite involved in was my institution's Task Force to Confront Structural Racism, which was established in the summer of 2020; I continue to be a part of its resulting projects, such as advocating for the participation of staff in campus governance. One particular interest of mine is accessibility; at St. Olaf, I'm part of the team which evaluates the usability and accessibility of online library resources, and I'm also heavily involved in researching and promoting the use of open educational resources to our faculty. Finally, as mentioned above, I served on the STS EDI committee from 2021-23; while on that committee, I participated in several initiatives, from helping migrate committee files to researching the history of ALA's salary transparency policies.
How do you envision STS growing and changing, and what role would you play in that process?
I think that STS, like many sections of ACRL, can be intimidating to new members; particularly for folks who may not know anybody in STS when they first join, it can be challenging to know how to even start getting involved. There are already many wonderful efforts underway in STS which help to welcome in newcomers, such as the mentoring program and book club, so my goal here wouldn't be to reinvent the wheel. Rather, I would like to explore how we might better connect new STS members with these existing opportunities, as well as help identify and address any barriers to participation, such as issues related to accessibility.
Is there anything else you’d like for STS members to know about you?
I often get some funny looks when I tell people that I'm a librarian for both the natural sciences and English, so I figured I should address that! I've been working on an M.A. in English since 2021, and this past summer, I added St. Olaf's English department to my list of liaison departments. I occasionally joke that I'm just embodying the liberal arts ethos, but I really do love how my work allows me to make connections between disciplines that sometimes appear to occupy opposite ends of the educational spectrum.
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EDI Officer Candidate: Janet Hughes
Biological Sciences Librarian
Penn State University
she/her/hers
Tell us more about yourself and how you became a librarian.
After obtaining my BSc in Biology, I was working in a lab towards my MSc but found myself more interested in the scientific literature than in bench work. Thus I changed focus and got an MLIS instead
How long have you been involved in STS and what attracted you to the section?
Except for a few years where I was mostly involved with the Sci-Tech Division (DST) of SLA, I have been a member of ALA since I graduated (decades ago). Science librarianship has always been my focus, so STS was a natural fit. I have been a committee member or Chair of many STS committees throughout the years.
How have you demonstrated a commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion?
At my institution, I have been a member of many DEI related committees at the Unit level and University level. I have used mini-collection audits to ensure our Life Sciences collections include resources with different perspectives and audiences. Within SLA, I worked with a very diverse group of colleagues as Chair of the Science-Technology Division, DST Awards chair, and local chapter President. In ALA I participate in relevant workshops, discussions and events but would like to expand that involvement.
How do you envision STS growing and changing, and what role would you play in that process?
As a mixed race, cis-gendered female, I have always found STS to be a welcoming environment. Nonetheless, society is rapidly changing and STS must adapt. It is not enough to react to changes; to attract more librarians to STS we must be proactive and visible. Our programming, structures, procedures, and documentation must be inclusive and welcoming so that STS is the first choice for ALL new STEM (or new-to -STEM) librarians. Our ideals and voices must be heard at all levels of librarianship -- in local situations, in STS, in the upper levels of our professional Associations, and beyond.
