Book Reviews

Michelle Reale. The Indispensable Academic Librarian: Teaching and Collaborating for Change. Chicago: American Library Association. 2018. 128p. Paper, $57.00 (ISBN 978-0-8389-1638-4).

Michelle Reale, the author of three other books published by the ALA, including Becoming a Reflective Librarian and Teacher and Becoming an Embedded Librarian, has come out with another book, The Indispensable Academic Librarian: Teaching and Collaborating for Change. An academic librarian at Arcadia University, Reale is a voice that is advocating for the role of the librarian within the higher education environment. In the case of her new book, that voice has grown louder and stronger. Similar to her previous works, Reale explores topics by delving deeply into her own experiences and discussing how she went about implementing programs or collaborating with others to improve her work and impact as an academic librarian.

The Indispensable Librarian showcases Reale’s efforts to become a more effective teacher. She explores opportunities to teach in the classroom, in conversations with faculty, and at the reference desk. Throughout the first five chapters of the book, the reader will discover that the book is almost a manifesto of why librarians should be equal partners and colleagues with faculty in education. The unease the author feels about being perceived as a service or servile to faculty is supported by examples of the problems that arise from being called in to do “one shot” instruction or to fill in when a faculty member has to be away. Reale experiences other problems when she has faculty members dictate what they want her to cover and then finds the students almost nonresponsive when she is doing instruction. To combat these and other challenges, Reale presents the ways in which she has tried to engage with faculty, advocating the importance of collaboration with faculty in designing how she will go about working with a class. Taking the bull by the horns, she has at times taught, not specifically what the faculty asked, but what she deemed important. This includes getting the students to engage in conversation with each other as part of their inquiry into their own topics. Almost educating her faculty, Reale discusses how she has transformed some of her faculty’s views on what can happen when they collaborate for better educational outcomes.

The first half of the book is very strong, and Reale’s passion for her work as well as her frustrations are palpable. Her exploration in chapter 6 of the work of noted pedagogical theorist Paulo Freire propels her to use critical pedagogy to further impact how her instruction is conducted. It is after chapter 6 that the author seems to lose focus. The last four chapters seem to not belong with the first six. There is a chapter on the library as a place, and Reale discusses the social community of the library. Including commentary about furniture or providing coffee and tea does not align well with the first part of the book. A reader could make an argument that an engaging library space is important in changing a student’s perception of librarians. Another chapter on reflection also seems out of place, especially since the author has a previous book focused almost entirely on this topic. Then there is the chapter on the librarian as leaders. This is a skimming of some leadership topics as well as what librarians might do to make themselves better leaders irrespective of their actual positions in the organizational chart. Again, one can loosely see how leadership and change are connected. The final chapter, entitled “On Being Indispensable,” initially looks like it would bring the reader back around to the main purpose of the book, but this is not the case. It comes across as a self-help chapter including recommendations to eat your lunch away from your desk and to stay away from social media because it is good to take care of yourself.

The reader will not be overwhelmed by citations since much of the book contains Reale’s own thoughts and experiences. At the end of each chapter, the author does provide a listing of strategies that are pulled from items discussed throughout the chapter. Although most are short, they do offer succinct points that summarize the chapter. An index is provided for the reader.

If you have not read Reale’s previous works, starting with this one might be a smart move. Not only will you become introduced to the author, you get a sense of her thinking as well as an introduction to her other works on reflection and on being an embedded librarian. If you have read her other books, you might consider skipping over the second half of this book. Since Reale is clearly passionate about being an educational partner, it is surprising that she did not have more to say about becoming an indispensable partner with faculty. If you are an instruction librarian, you can relate to Reale’s concerns and will benefit from comparing her efforts to your own, as long as you stick to the first half of the book.—Mark Shelton, College of the Holy Cross