Emilia Marcyk
Teaching & Learning Librarian
Michigan State University
I just finished The Galaxy and the Ground Within, which is the final novel in Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series. Also reading the latest Murderbot novella from Martha Wells and about to start The Unbroken by C.L. Clark. For my professional reading, I have been working my way through this Critical Disinformation Studies syllabus: https://citap.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/20665/2021/03/Marwick_Kuo_Cameron_Weigel_2021_CriticalDisinformationStudiesSyllabus.pdf.
What are your research interests?
Critical Disinformation Studies (see above), helping students develop strategies for navigating our current information environment, fact-checking and critical news consumption, critical approaches to information literacy/librarianship in general.
Do you have hobbies or interests outside of the library?
I love growing food (peas, tomatoes and garlic are my favorite), baking sourdough bread (I'm a sourdough hipster - I was doing it before it was "cool"), reading, hiking, camping, paddle boarding and generally spending time around water. I also spend a lot of time parenting my son which is not really a hobby per se, but is a lot of fun (and work)! He definitely keeps things interesting.
What drew you to the library profession?
I decided that I wanted to be a librarian when I was 10 even though I had no idea what librarians actually did. I thought I wanted to be a children's librarian until I fell in love with academic library reference and instruction during my assistantship in grad school. I guess I got lucky that my childhood ambition ended up being what I actually wanted to do as an adult, even though working as a librarian is very different than I imagined at the time.
What do you value about MiALA?
Meeting amazing Michigan library colleagues. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to both plan and participate in professional development events.