Conference Photos

Betsy Baker, Keynote Speaker

Friday, May 9th, 9-10:15 a.m. [Ballroom C/D]

The Muse in the Mirror: Reflection in Professional Practice

Reflection may not be one of the first words that would come to mind if we were asked to list the activities we engage in as librarians and teachers. In fact, the sheer busyness of our workdays may seem to preclude reflection in professional matters. Yet it is through reflection that we can come to a clearer sense of the values that underpin our work and of who we are as professionals. Reflection takes us back to questions of meaning and purpose. This, in turn, informs our answers to questions of what we need to do and how we should do it. Being reflective about our work involves engaging in a dialogue between what we think, what we believe in, and what we do. In this presentation, I will talk about what it means to be a reflective practitioner; how reflective practice affects the way we think about our work, our careers, and our profession; and how the idea of reflection-in-action or constant reflection can be carried into our work and teaching.

Betsy Baker has been an academic librarian for over 20 years. She began her career in the reference department at the University of Illinois before moving to Northwestern University Library. At Northwestern, Betsy set up a program of user education, led its online catalog efforts, and served as the head of the reference department for nearly fifteen years. Throughout her career, Betsy has been an active proponent of user education and outreach services in libraries. She has created numerous public service programs, led various seminars, delivered speeches, and published articles that focus on the important role libraries play in the education arena and that promote the educational mission of the library.

Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, American Libraries, the University of Illinois’ Occasional Papers series, Research Strategies, Library Trends, and the Journal of Library Administration. She is the co-editor of "The Evolving Educational Mission of the Library," a book which was published by ALA/ACRL in 1994. Among the highlights of her career she includes chairing the ACRL Instruction Section, chairing the Instruction Section's Second Think Tank on the Future of Library Instruction, and traveling to Moscow as part of a special delegation of instruction librarians for the Russian-American Seminar on Critical Thinking and the Library. Over the years, Betsy has served on and chaired numerous ALA committees. Currently, she is a member-at-large on the executive committee of the University Libraries Section and chairs its current topics discussion group. Betsy also reviews manuscripts for Research Strategies, consults and provides workshops for several library systems, and teaches at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. Her contributions to the profession have been recognized in several significant ways. In 1992, ACRL's Instruction Section presented her with the Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian of the Year Award and just this year gave her article titled "Values for the Learning Library" its Publication of the Year Award.

Further reading: Values for the Learning Library. Research Strategies 17(2/3) (2000): 85-91.