The Librarian Parlor (also referred to as LibParlor) is a publication aimed at all library, archives, and information professionals—especially those who are new to research. LibParlor was established in 2017 and provides a space where those new to research can publish their work and/or find a community of supportive and collaborative LIS professionals.
I spoke with a co-founder and editor of LibParlor, Chelsea Heinbach, who is the teaching and learning librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to learn more about her career and the publication, and to gain a better understanding of the publication’s purpose and influence.
LIS Wiki: When did you realize you wanted to be a librarian and, more specifically, what made you go into academic librarianship?
Chelsea: I actually originally thought I wanted to work in digital collections and archives. As an undergraduate student at the University of Miami I was inspired by an exhibit curated from the Special Collections Cuban Heritage Collection displaying Cuban tourism brochures and maps from the 1940s-50s. I spoke to the head of special collections to see what it took to become a librarian. Through my experiences in graduate school, I realized what I loved most about my work was hearing about the curiosities, passions, and interests of faculty and students that drove the university forward. I learned more about the ways that information literacy can be used to empower and inform, and this inspired me to pursue teaching librarianship.
LIS Wiki: What is your educational background and how has that shaped your career as an academic librarian?
Chelsea: I have always been a reader, but I have not always been a great student. Growing up, I felt like the ways I approached learning and problem solving were not recognized. After a few brief stints in more “practical” majors as an undergraduate student, I decided to pursue the type of education that inspired me. I focused on literature, classics, and philosophy. In those classes, I learned that there is rarely one right answer. Instead, there are many creative ways to approach the same situation.
Additionally, even though I was an undergraduate student who loved reading and visited the library nearly daily, I was completely unaware of the ways I could get involved in original research and academic discourse as a student. That has really inspired me to get undergraduate students involved in deeper engagements with the university, research, and academic libraries.
After graduating, I took time off from school, and I feel very strongly that what I learned working odd jobs and in the service industry greatly informed my approach to my work. It taught me about patience, exhaustion, unspoken language, and power.
My passion for removing barriers and my desire to have curiosity rewarded in higher education directly impact my work as a librarian and more specifically my work with LibParlor.
As a graduate student, I realized how narrowly focused on patriarchal, Euro-centric values my undergraduate education had been. This was true not only through what we read but also how classes were structured, whose voices were prioritized, and how overwhelmingly I did not feel I belonged as a first-generation, neurodivergent, queer student. During graduate school, instincts I had always had around social justice work found a home and language in the work I was doing, and liberatory pedagogies and theories remain a grounding principle of any project I work on. My passion for removing barriers and my desire to have curiosity rewarded in higher education directly impact my work as a librarian and more specifically my work with LibParlor.
LIS Wiki: What are you passionate about in the LIS field?
Chelsea: I am passionate about fostering curiosity, expanding access, improving representation, and empowering students to become engaged lifelong learners.
LIS Wiki: What career advice do you have for emerging LIS professionals?
Chelsea: You don’t need to do everything right away! I wish I had taken things a little more slowly in the beginning of my career and given myself more grace and time to accomplish things. I feel some of the projects I worked on would have been greatly improved by being more intentional about limiting burnout and fatigue. I was often working on too many things and would be disappointed if the end product wasn’t as I imagined because of competing priorities. Take your time.
Along the same lines, I recommend anyone new to the profession read Fobazi Ettarh’s article on Vocational Awe. I am passionate about my work, as I feel librarianship can be a vehicle for creativity, activism, social change, experimentation, and learning, but it should not be the only place we experience these things. You’ll be a better librarian by caring for yourself and expanding your view. Ultimately, it is your profession, not all of you.
LIS Wiki: How did LibParlor get started? What was your role in the creation of LibParlor?
Chelsea: I was a brand new librarian, about six months into my first position, and I was attending the #critlib unconference in Baltimore ahead of ACRL 2017. It was lunchtime, and I didn’t know many people there. I saw another new-ish looking librarian looking around and asked her if she wanted to get lunch, and that was Hailley Fargo! At lunch, we discussed how we were brand new, super excited about doing research, but absolutely lost as to how to make it happen. We were glad to meet someone who understood and decided we should try to bring others together too. We tweeted with the #acrl2017 hashtag to see if others wanted to meet up, Katlyn Griffin and Charissa Powell joined us for a Starbucks, and that is where we dreamed up LibParlor! Now Charissa, Hailley, Nimisha Bhat, and I maintain the LibParlor platform and continue to dream up new ways it can support LIS researchers.
LIS Wiki: As an editor for LibParlor, you probably see a lot of the submissions that come through for the site. What advice do you have for LIS professionals looking to submit work to LibParlor?
Chelsea: We want our authors to really be in community and conversation with each other, so we recommend you look through past blog posts to see if your idea is similar to an existing post. This can help ensure that you come at it from a complementary angle. Think about how your work will build on previous posts. How will your take be different?
Additionally, you can come to us in the very beginning stages! You definitely don’t need to have a fully written post, and in fact, we want to work through it together. For example, If you aren’t sure how to get a different angle on a piece as mentioned before – ask us! We think about this stuff all the time, so we are likely to have an idea for a way it could evolve.
Finally, make sure it is about research! Our focus on empowering LIS researchers is one of the things that differentiates us from other publications, and that identity is important to us. We hope by remaining focused on research we will really have a space for the community to deepen and expand our knowledge of this aspect of our jobs.
Our focus on empowering LIS researchers is one of the things that differentiates us from other publications… We hope by remaining focused on research we will have a space for the community to deepen and expand our knowledge of this aspect of our jobs.
LIS Wiki: In your experience, what do you think are some of the advantages of LIS professionals publishing works on a site like LibParlor, especially for those who may not have any other publishing experience?
Chelsea: One of our favorite things about LibParlor is that you can talk about ideas in progress – you don’t need everything to be figured out to share your experiences with the community. This can be helpful for folks who are struggling through an issue or just battling imposter syndrome or working in a less than supportive environment. We hope it is a space where folks feel safe sharing their ideas as they grow and change.
Additionally, not all outlets actively encourage MLIS students to write for them. As I mentioned, I was an anxious graduate student, and I wanted to do anything I could to ensure I would be employable when I graduated. I hope MLIS students feel welcome and encouraged to publish with us if they have something they’d like to share.
Additionally, you can use LibParlor to advocate for changes you wish to see in the field. You want to advocate for open peer review? We will publish that piece and provide access to it for anyone else it might help. Want to advocate for something completely different? You can do that too! We see LibParlor as an advocacy space as well as an informative space.
LIS Wiki: Lastly, is there anything else you would like to share with the readers of the LIS Wiki?
Chelsea: LibParlor is for everyone at any stage of their career, and we would love to have perspectives from folks at the beginning, middle, and later stages of librarianship. Additionally, while we use the term “librarian” in our name, that does not mean you have to hold a MLIS or have “librarian” in your position title to contribute to this community. All library, archives, and information workers are encouraged to submit to The Librarian Parlor, and we actively seek to represent a diversity of experiences. Shoot us an email and let’s chat about your ideas!
While we use the term “librarian” in our name, that does not mean you have to hold a MLIS or have “librarian” in your position title to contribute to this community. All library, archives, and information workers are encouraged to submit to The Librarian Parlor, and we actively seek to represent a diversity of experiences.
*Note: The LIS Wiki team would like to express their gratitude and appreciation to Chelsea and the LibParlor editorial team for their time and participation in this interview.
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