sept05b.indd


Ann Wheeler 

Yours,
mine,
and
ours:
Reinventing


reference
at
San
José

This
 month
 “Job
 of
 a
 Lifetime”
 looks
 at
 a

major
midcareer
challenge—reinventing
your

library
 service.
 Christina
 Peterson
 currently

serves
as
academic
services
librarian
at
the

Dr.
Martin
Luther
King
Jr.
Library.
The
King
Li-
brary
is
a
joint-use
facility
run
by

San
José
State
University
(SJSU)

Library
and
the
San
José
Public

Libraries,
 serving
 the
 students

and
 faculty
 of
 SJSU
 as
 well
 as

the
city
of
San
José.


Out of the blue 
Peterson
 began
 as
 health
 sci-
ences
 librarian
 at
 SJSU
 Library

back
in
1986.
“I
would
have
to

say
 that
 before
 the
 merge
 we

were
 a
 rather
 typical
 academic

library,
 where
 a
 person
 in
 my

position
would
be
doing
refer-
ence
to
the
general
student
body

as
 well
 as
 collection
 manage-
ment
and
library
instruction
as

liaison
to
specifi
c
departments.

You
know,
you
work
in
a
library
that’s
been

there
for
130
or
140
years
and
you’ve
done

things
in
the
way
you’ve
done
them
forever.

We
 all
 woke
 up
 one
 February
 morning
 in

1997
and
read
in
the
San Jose Mercury News 
that
we
would
be
part
of
this
merge.
It
was
a

surprise
to
almost
everybody
in
the
library.”


Peterson
was
made
the
cochair
of
the
User

Services
Team
that
planned
all
the
public
ser-
vices
for
the
new
building.
Peterson
recalled,

“I
plunged
into
the
planning
process.


My
co-team
leader
was
Lisa
Rosenblum,

who
 is
 now
 the
 supervising
 librarian
 for

King
Library.
We
had
a
public
library
and
an


Christine Peterson, aca-
demic services librarian 
at the Dr. Martin Luther 
King Jr. Library at San José 
State University. 

academic
library
person
managing
all
the
sub-
teams
that
planned
user
services:
reference

services,
what
the
combined
Web
site
would

look
like,
how
the
public
access
computers

would
be
configured,
how
the
meeting
rooms


and
 group
 study
 rooms
 would

be
used,
etc.”


Paradigm shift 
About
two
months
into
the
pro-
cess,
 Peterson
 experienced
 a

watershed
 moment.
 “Everyone

had
this
almost
daily
walk
back

and
forth
between
the
libraries

for
 meetings,
 where
 we
 were

questioning
 everything.
 Why

do
we
offer
our
services
in
this

way?
Are
there
other
ways
that

we
 can
 accomplish
 the
 same

goal?
Why
do
we
do
this?
What

purpose
is
that
serving?


Walking
 back
 from
 one
 of

those
 meetings,
 I
 experienced

the
distinct
physical
manifesta-

tion
of
examining
issues
from
a
new
angle.

I’ll
 never
 forget
 feeling
 my
 brain
 go
 ‘click,

click,
click,
click’
and
make
a
90
degree
turn;

then
I
began
to
accept
new
ways
of
thinking

about
library
services.”


A whole new body 
Peterson
 observed
 that
 it
 was
 a
 long
 pro-
cess—seven
years
from
the
initial
announce-
ment
 to
 date.
 “Seven
 years,
 which
 is
 the


Danianne Mizzy is assistant head of the Engineering 
Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Have an idea 
for a “Job of a Lifetime” story? E-mail: danianne@seas. 
upenn.edu. 

September 2005  599 C&RL News 

http:upenn.edu


amount
 of
 time
 it
 takes
 for
 all
 the
 cells
 in

your
body
to
turn
over.
I
can’t
say
that
every

single
cell
of
my
work
life
turned
over,
but

a
good
percentage
of
them
have.
It
was
re-
ally
a
learning
process
for
me.
It
turned
out

that
I
was
pretty
good
at
consensus
building

and
 bringing
 teams
 together.
 I
 was
 able
 to

maintain
 academic
 priorities
 in
 a
 complex

situation.
I
discovered
that
I
could
help
small

groups
understand
why
one
side
or
the
other

provided
services
in
a
certain
way
and
how

to
provide
services
in
a
mutual
way.
When

things
didn’t
dovetail
we
worked
around
it,

pushed
them
together,
fixed
them,
and
tried

different
confi
gurations.”


Peterson
 outlined
 how
 her
 thinking

evolved
 over
 the
 four-
year
 planning
 process.


Academic services librarian 
“At
 the
 beginning,
 I

viewed
 my
 particular
 at a joint-use library 
constituency
 as
 the
 What: Dr.
Martin
Luther
King
Jr.
Library

health
science
students,
 Where: San
José,
California

but
over
time
it
broad-

For more information, visit: 
ened
out
quite
a
bit.
We
 www.sjlibrary.org/gateways

all
worked
hard
to
fully
 /academic//oitpoffi
ceinformation.htm

understand
the
differing

objectives
and
clientele

of
 the
 public
 and
 the
 academic
 libraries.

In
 terms
 of
 reference
 service,
 there’s
 the

continuum
 between
 completely
 answering

the
question
and
teaching
users
to
become

independent
researchers.


“Another
difference
is
the
way
reference
li-
brarians
in
the
public
library
and
the
academic

library
 learn
 to
 value
 their
 work.
 Academic

reference
librarians
value
their
expertise
in
a

specific
subject
area.
Public
reference
librar-
ians
 value
 their
 generalist
 abilities.
 The
 fi
rst

decision
 to
 have
 one
 reference
 desk
 was
 a

model
for
all
the
rest
of
the
things
we
went

through.
 We
 decided
 that
 as
 much
 as
 pos-
sible
 we
 would
 have
 a
 public
 librarian
 and

an
academic
librarian
serving
together
on
the

reference
desk,
learning
from
each
other
how

to
handle
each
other’s
types
of
questions.”


In
a
parallel
process,
Peterson
explained,

“the
 SJSU
 library
 examined
 what
 made
 us

unique
 academically
 and
 what
 the
 campus

valued
in
the
library
as
an
academic
entity.”


This
 culminated
 in
 the
 15-point
 statement

“Affirming
Academic
Responsibilities.”


“The
library
faculty
is
safeguarding
these

academic
 responsibilities,”
 stated
 Peterson,

“and
I’m
proud
of
us
doing
that.”


Librarian, team leader, teacher, 
scholar 
Peterson
will
be
adding
yet
another
role
to

her
responsibilities
in
the
upcoming
academic

year.
She
is
the
first
librarian
at
SJSU
to
receive

the
honor
of
being
named
a
Teacher
Scholar.

The
Teacher
Scholar
award
allows
outstand-
ing
teachers
to
engage
in
midcareer
refl
ective

discussion
on
teaching
and
learning
and
to

examine
and
conduct
research
on
teaching


with
the
effect
of
culture
on
learning.”


Rainbow connection 
If
 your
 travels
 bring
 you
 to
 California,
 Pe-
terson
 extended
 the
 following
 invitation.

“Please
come
see
this
beautiful
library.
The

idea
of
this
building
is
to
foster
lifelong
learn-
ing.
 Students
 bring
 their
 children
 in
 to
 the

children’s
room,
they
bring
their
parents
and

grandparents
in
to
the
adult
services
area.
It

means
that
working
here
is
more
holistic
and

more
like
real
life.
We
also
have
a
wonderful

public
art
collection.


“And,
 because
 of
 the
 way
 the
 architects

situated
windows
and
glass,
there
are
rainbows

that
spontaneously
appear
all
over
the
building.

There
will
be
students
with
rainbows
on
them

while
they’re
studying
and,
at
certain
times
of

the
day,
you
have
a
rainbow
on
yourself,
too,

as
you
sit
at
the
reference
desk.”


So
there
is
gold
at
the
end
of
the
rainbow,

at
least
in
San
José.


and
 learning.
 “This


is
 really
 very
 excit-i


ing
 for
 me,”
 Peterson
i


shared,
“to
join
my
in-s


structional
colleagues.
s


We
 will
 develop
 a
W


research
 project
 dur-r


ing
the
course
of
this
i


academic
 year,
 and
 I
 
a


suspect
 it
 is
 going
 to
s


have
something
to
do
h



C&RL News September 2005  600 

www.sjlibrary.org/gateways