Justin Wadland has served as Interim Director of the UW Tacoma Library this year, and received the Distinguished Librarian Award. We are happy to (re)introduce you to a familiar face on campus! Read on to learn some exciting information about the Learning Commons project as well!

How do you work with faculty and students in your current role at the UW Tacoma Library? In my current role, I do a lot of things behind the scenes to support the Library staff who work directly with faculty and students. As the many staff profiles show, the Tacoma campus is blessed with an amazing team of library professionals. A big part of my job is helping to coordinate decisions around the many different Library services and resources, connecting with other campus units, and participating in wider campus and Libraries leadership conversations.

I have worked at UW Tacoma since 2003 as a librarian, so I do have a lot of experience working with faculty and students as a librarian. Some of the projects I’m most proud of are the digital oral history projects I’ve been involved in, such as the Tacoma Community History Project and UW Tacoma Oral History: Founding Stories project.

What drew you to working in libraries? I was first exposed to a research library as an undergraduate at Michigan State University. The book stacks there were so big that when you went looking for a book, there were signs that showed call number ranges with little pieces of colored tape beside them. You’d find the range you were looking for, look down, and follow the trail of that piece of colored tape out into the ranges of shelves. I studied English Literature, so I often found myself browsing in the Library of Congress “PR” and “PS” sections. I deeply enjoyed the feeling of “getting lost” in stacks, though I guess those pieces of tape made sure I’d find my way out.

Yet I didn’t really consider working in libraries until I moved to Seattle two decades ago. I was in a creative writing group, and one of its members worked in a law library. He told me about the Masters of Library and Information Science program at the University of Washington, and I decided to apply. Before meeting him, I didn’t even really understand how you got a job in a library or became a librarian.

What parts of your job are you most excited about? The Learning Commons Project! This is the formal name of the project that is bringing renovations to the Snoqualmie and Tioga Library Buildings and will establish a student-centered, technology rich “Commons” space that brings together the Center for Equity and Inclusions (CEI), the Library, and the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC).

While the Library facilities have been closed, library staff have been hard at work reimagining our spaces in partnership with the CEI and TLC. The Sellen-McGranahan design-build team has guided us through this process, and we’ll soon begin construction in February 2021. If everything remains on track in terms of construction and a vaccine, there’s a good chance that we’ll be reopening in a renovated facility in the fall of 2021.

How has your job shifted because of COVID-19? My job has shifted in so many ways it’s hard to summarize. When I stepped into this role about a year ago, I never imagined that I would be guiding the organization through a pandemic. Our facilities closed on March 17, 2021, but we’ve continued to remain “open,” providing critical services, resources, and technology to support students and learning. Then, this fall, we began offering curb-side services. I have been involved and supported the planning for all the major changes in services for the Library, and through it all, I have strived to prioritize safety and staff well-being.

I do try to bring a sense of humor to lighten things up. For instance, I take a virtual commute vehicle every day to the home office, usually made by or borrowed from my kids. I then post a picture of how I got to work on our Slack workspace. The redesigned Segway scooter with a nitrogen blaster, pictured, is a pretty typical example of what I take to work these days.

Have you read or watched anything good lately? I recently read The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. It is a powerful work of literature and anti-racist writing. I highly recommend it. I was particularly moved when he calls on those dedicated to freedom:

“… to trust and to celebrate what is constant — birth, struggle, and death are constant, and so is love, though we may not think so — and to apprehend the nature of change, to be able and willing to change. I speak of change not on the surface but in the depths — change in the sense of renewal. But renewal becomes impossible if one supposes things to be constant that are not — safety, for example, or money, or power.”

Any advice for UWT students? Know that Library staff are here to help you, whether that’s locating a book or article, checking out a laptop, or finding your way into a research topic. Also, if you’re looking for a place to connect with others, check out our Real Lit[erature] book group. Supporting your learning and helping you thrive is our top priority.