ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries November 1987 / 629 INNOVATIONS Creativity and the research process in academic libraries B y M ichael E ngle Reader Services Librarian L infield College W e d o n ’t often associate creativ ity w ith the work of librarians or librarianship. A look at L i­ brary Literature shows th at no subject headings containing the word “creative” are used to describe the work and writings of librarians. Yet biblio­ graphic research is a creative process. Just as a w riter searches the linguistic universe to bring a poem or novel into being, so the researcher searches the bibliographic universe to bring together the ideas and inform ation in books and articles, joins them w ith personal experience and a particular vo­ cabulary, and creates a unique product. Those of us who work w ith researchers have much to learn from the writings and experiences of the teachers who work w ith writers. In a recent book,1 W illiam Stafford writes and talks about his particular way of teaching w riting and w riting poetry. We are fam iliar w ith the idea th at w riting is a creative act; Stafford’s book shows us th a t the teaching of w riting can be a creative act too, p a rt of a process entered into by the poet/ teacher and the students. The way the teacher en­ ters into this process is all im portant to the integrity of the creator and of the creative product. Staf­ ford’s role as a teacher of creative w riting is to p a r­ ticipate in the process, rather than to channel it w ith positive and negative judgments, providing an opportunity for the w riting which comes from the inner life of the student to grow. The way we enter into the research process is equally im portant. If we understand research as a creative act, Stafford’s approach to teaching w rit­ ing begins to make sense as one approach to teach­ ing research. Stafford encourages joint participa- 1W illiam Stafford, You M ust Revise Your L ife (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1986). tion in the creative process w ithout imposing outer standards at the outset; the authority of a librarian who approaches teaching in this way comes from her ability to enter into the creative acts of the other researchers in the library—not as judge but as fel­ low traveler. By joining the researcher in the search process, librarians act as midwives for the creative process of others. Research becomes not only some­ thing th a t happens externally as a result of contact w ith the appropriate books, indexes and catalogs, but also something th at comes from w ithin the re­ searcher. Stafford uses the image of tw o rivers flowing together to describe the way this inner and outer work intermingles and carries the creative process in the combined currents. To experience this process, we must continually be perform ing our own research on topics of p er­ sonal and professional interest to us and then creat­ ing something out of th at research—a paper, a pre­ sentation, a new understanding. W e can know something of the struggles of research for students by learning something entirely new, such as online searching, w ord processing, or public speaking. Taking a class in the college or university where we work can lead to a clearer understanding of the fear and m arginality th at are common to student re­ searchers as they make the transition from high school and public libraries to effective use of an ac­ ademic library.2 A thorough and continuing per­ sonal grounding in the experience of learning and research in an academic setting prepares us to join students and faculty in the creative act which bib­ liographic research can be. Listening to creative w riting teachers and writers and reading their ac- 2C onstance A. M ellon, “ L ib ra ry Anxiety: A G rounded Theory and Its Developm ent,” College & Research Libraries 47 (March 1986): 160-65. We Are Professionals We at EBS a re d e d ic a te d to providing libraries w ith th e f a s te s t service, the b e st d is c o u n ts , b u t a b o v e all, th e accuracy a library demands. With all this in your favor you owe it to y o u r s e lf to try us… November 1987 / 631 counts of how they teach and how they w rite, we can begin to see our work as p a rt of a creative pro­ cess, making something new, original, never be­ fore seen or understood in th a t particular way. Because a focus on process is central to both crea­ tive w riting and creative research, we can each find help for our work when we hear and read w rit­ ers on w riting and teachers on teaching writing. Stafford’s particular approach m ay not be appro­ priate or helpful for everyone, bu t I believe all li­ brarians working w ith researchers can find inspira­ tion and help in the experiences of creative writers and teachers of creative writing. As the im portance of creativity for librarians is recognized, we may even see some new and creative subject headings in Library Literature. Managing innovation and innovators B y F red M. A niram Professor o f Speech Communications, General College University o f M innesota-Tw in Cities Lots of tim e and money are spent fostering crea­ tivity in the workplace. Witness ACRL President Joanne Euster’s article, “Creativity, Innovation and Risk-Taking” in the July/August 1987 issue of C& RL News. Special efforts are m ade to help li­ brarians, teachers, engineers, social w orkers— most employed persons—to invent new products and processes. W e are told to “find a better w ay .” Much of the effort will be wasted, however, if the work environm ent in which employees find themselves is not conducive to new ideas and risk­ taking. No am ount of employee skill and attitude development will enhance creativity unless the en­ vironm ent supports this effort. Three key factors in the w ork environm ent have special influence on creativity: people, space, and time. W hile all three are interrelated, each will be discussed independently. There are three categories of people in the envi­ ronm ent who m ay enhance or inhibit creativity— the self, peers, and supervisors. The self is certainly the most severe critic. W ho knows better which “pu t dow n” will be most effective? W ho rem em ­ bers best, consciously and subconsciously, the en­ tire life history of failures? Training works best when it teaches the individual to try, to risk, to dare. T raining works best w hen it demonstrates to the individual how one blocks creativity w ith un­ necessary habits, fears, conformity, fixations, and all the other self–inhibitors. Innovation requires self-confidence—the “I think I can ” a ttitu d e — which comes largely from rem em bered success ex­ periences. Ultimately the m otivation to risk (to w ant to try) requires feeling good about oneself and th a t comes from rem em bered success experiences. Good tra in ­ ing and good m anagem ent help people to feel suc­ cessful and discover personal strengths. A rew ard system th a t endorses effort as well as winners will help ensure success experiences. It is notew orthy th a t not every idea is a good idea, but w ith o u t new ideas there is no innovation. Not every oyster contains a pearl. Reward systems should allow for individual dif­ ferences and preferences. Just as we each know our failures we also know best w hat makes us feel suc­ cessful. But the encouragem ent of rewards m ay not be enough. A lim ited am ount of pressure m ay bring out the best. “I expect you to be creative” says th a t I believe in you. N o th in g en h an ces self- confidence more than the confidence of others. O ther people in the work environm ent affect the individual’s creativity as well as oneself. Peers surely have more influence on one’s sense of crea­ tivity than bosses, and they provide a real opportu­ nity to collaborate as well as a sense of our self- w orth. American culture is often not conducive to col­ laboration. W e are a competitive people. In the ac­ adem ic as well as the corporate setting we are afraid th a t the other person m ay get the patent, the rew ard, the step up the elusive ladder to success. Again and again scholars report th a t they dare not share an idea until it’s in “final form .” Scientists re­ port th a t they dare not ask advice—technical or procedural—for fear th a t an idea will slip away. And yet none of us is expert in all things. W e need our colleagues to develop our ideas, to enhance our ideas, and to test our ideas. Consequently, Ameri­ can libraries must develop a collaboration system th a t encourages and teaches individuals to use one another’s inform ation, insights, and skills. For one thing, libraries should develop group re­ w ard structures. If two or three individuals partici­ pated in an innovation, each should share in the rew ard—either equally or in proportion to their contribution. In some cases whole departm ents m ight be rew arded even though not all individuals contributed to the idea. Such group rewards recog­ nize the im portance of peers as emotional support