Meet ACRL-NM member Erin R. Wahl!
Describe yourself in three words:
Annoyingly insistent idealist.
What are you currently reading or listening to? The easiest way to know the answer to this question is to follow me on Goodreads, which I use extensively to manage my personal reading list. I’m typically reading at least 12 books on a specific rotating schedule. Currently on my bookshelf:
- Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability, Nelson and Shilling (eds.)
- Honey-Laced Garbage Dreams, Wanda Deglane
- So You Want to Talk about Race, Ijeoma Oluo
- Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry
Describe New Mexico in three words:
Land of possible innovation
What do you as an academic librarian contribute to your campus?
Well, officially I manage the library’s one-shot and for-credit instruction and contribute to the other duties of the Reference and Research Services Department. However, one of the things I’m hoping to personally have an impact on during my time at NMSU is changing the rhetoric around how the campus talks about libraries, librarians, and promoting what we librarians already know–that we also exist in these spaces as educators and collaborators.
What are your career goals? How might ACRL-NM help you achieve those goals?
For right now I’m focusing on completing my PhD to open myself up to other opportunities for leadership. I’m considering several directions for my career overall (I like to plan multiple scenarios), and the PhD is going to be instrumental in my final decision of what to do. I think ACRL-NM is going to be instrumental in networking and organizing across the state. I see a lot of potential to do really amazing things in New Mexico, which is why I came here. You don’t need to have a large budget to be innovative and support your communities. So I think ACRL-NM can be a catalyst for all sorts of excellent partnerships and programming to create paths to knowledge for our academic library users and extend it into New Mexico communities in different ways.
Call for Participation!
Are you an ACRL-NM member? Would you like to be featured in a Member Spotlight post? Or maybe you’d like to nominate a colleague? Contact Alyssa Russo at arusso@unm.edu for more information.
ACRL New Mexico 