A recent article in Inside Higher Ed urges faculty, staff, and students of colleges and universities to be mindful of the contribution their libraries make to their institutions. Maria Shine Stewart, an adjunct professor of writing who spends a lot of time in libraries, enumerates three virtues that make library faculty and staff an important resource to their communities:
- Most academic librarians and staffers are very patient.
- Most library personnel have vast intellectual curiosity.
- Library personnel have a superb sense of organization.
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According to the author, “The energy of students, faculty, and staff members moving from the sheer beauty of a question to a strategy or to a resource – or to a series of strategies and resources – and then on the path to a firm (or tentative) answer is for me the heart of what a college represents.”
Prof. Stewart concludes her article urging readers to spend more time in their campus libraries, noting that, “Academic libraries may be some of the kindest places on campus.”