Expert Learners, Competencies, and other thoughts

I confess, I find expertise alluring. At least, I do after reading chapter 2. Being an expert in something really gives you a powerful set of tools to use, not just in your field, but in acquiring new knowledge, and in all aspects of life. Maybe that is why education has traditionally been so valued and why it opens doors--it's not so much about the facts you learn, but about becoming someone who can think a certain way about one thing and then apply that to other areas. When I think about my own education--both in a formal setting, and in less formal settings, such as in my home for example--I feel like the most valuable thing I took from my years of study is my ability to think about things the way I do. The ability to learn and think is empowering.

But what does this have to do with libraries, competencies, an MSI? Well, the most obvious answer is that the goal of a master's degree is to become an expert, or at least more of an expert, in an area. And in looking at the competencies, one of the words that comes up a lot is understanding. A competent library science professional has to understand and have a way of thinking about information to be successful.

Now, ideally, we graduate as experts, but in case you didn't notice, those competencies are pretty detailed. I don't think there is any way to become an expert in all aspects of librarianship--how on earth would one learn everything about legal, administrative, outreach, collecting, etc.? There's just too much. So how do we become expert without being expert? How do we learn everything we need to know? It's kind of overwhelming. Fortunately, an expert learner knows what they don't know.Thank goodness for metacognition!