So, I was supposed to blog last Friday about how this week’s (last week’s now) materials relate to my own ideas about open education. I think that I struggled with this fairly simple prompt because I’m still not 100% clear what my ideas are. This got me thinking about my role as a librarian and what my goals are when working with students and faculty. The thing that kept coming back to me from Fifty Shades of Open by Pomerantz and Peek was “Open means enabling openness.”

Librarianship is often misunderstood. I typically get two responses when I tell people I’m a librarian: “I’d love a job where I could read all day,” or “Isn’t that what Google’s for?” The second response is the one that I’ll focus on today. Google is an amazing tool for connecting people to information. I use it every day, much like the rest of the world. But, how many people are using it as effectively as it can be used? How many people are able to effectively sift through the results to find the “truth”? How many people don’t have the necessary tools to access Google in the first place?

As a librarian, I think my biggest role is as an enabler of openness. We offer computers, internet, resources, instruction on how to use those resources. We help you figure out what you need to get where you want to go. And so, I guess I’m coming away from reading the above article thinking about how I can be an enabler of openness on my campus. How can I not only advocate for OER, but also enable faculty to integrate them into their courses? What tools are lacking that the library can provide?