On the cusp of change: from art teacher to info pro, her career has changed—and changed with the times

Information Outlook, Dec, 2007 by Forrest Glenn Spencer

Patricia O'Brien Libutti, a retired member, has been surprised by the accolades she received in the past year.

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In April, the SLA Education Division gave her the Anne Galler Award for Professional Excellence. The award celebrates an individual who "has demonstrated professional excellence in the field of education librarianship or library education and/or has provided outstanding service to the Education Division." In June, the Association of College and Research Libraries celebrated her achievements with the Education and Behavioral Sciences Section Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award. The prize included a plaque and a $1,000 cash prize donated by publisher John Wiley & Sons. Libutti was honored for her contribution to the field of education and behavioral sciences librarianship, and the mentoring of librarians in the field.

Now, Information Outlook is asking questions for a profile of her career.

"This has been an adventure for me because I had not actually thought of these sorts of things occurring at this point in my career," Libutti said, referring to the profile. "I really hadn't. I thought the same thing when I got these two awards: one from ALA and one SLA, both after I had retired. I was surprised and very happy with the ARCL in particular because they included money, so I went and took a fly-fishing vacation."

Libutti retired in September 2006. Her last employer was Rutgers University, where she served as social sciences/education librarian in the Alexander Library. Today she's an emerita at Rutgers. And even though she's retired, she couldn't quite put her career aside. Libutti said she had made a brief foray toward writing a new book and making a proposal for it, but then she realized it wasn't the best path to pursue.

The book, concerning quantitative analysis and the library, was to be titled Observe, Reflect, Act: A Librarian's Guide to Quantitative Analysis. "I got two other people to pick up on this," she said, "to take the proposal and to move with it. I had the authors and all these things set up but I realized I couldn't continue in that direction; because once you are retired, certain things do happen."

Libutti said she might not be the representative of SLA's retired members--or even know what that even means. "My guess is that you remain in a supporting role for the profession--that you're willing to support the profession with your membership and your connection with information professionals."

A Busy Career

Taking a glance at her extensive resume one may assume that she has been in the profession most of her adult life based upon the institutions she was employed by, her college degrees, presentations given, and the number of books she has written, edited, or contributed to. But Libutti was only in the information field for 18 years. Prior to becoming an information specialist, she was a teacher and education researcher. She earned her bachelor's in art education from Seton Hill in 1966 and then her master's of education in art education in 1970 from Tyler Art School at Temple University. She had planned to be an arts educator, but an unfortunate event occurred.

"I had to put a great deal of work into print making," she said, "and I was toxically poisoned by the ingredients that I used. And at a certain point--young, really--I had to leave my first profession, which I was happy in, being an educator and an artist. I couldn't tolerate the materials, and I could not easily walk into a classroom. This was pre-OSHA," she said, referring to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which, among other things, establishes guidelines for the use of toxins in the workplace. "To this day, I still have to be wary of certain things, but I managed to find my way into doing artwork on my own."

In search of a new career, she decided to pursue her other interest in life, psychology. "I was interested in human creativity--I always have been--and the impact of the social environment on individual creativity. I wanted to study that. At the time, I thought it would be a reasonable career path. I've always been interested in the idea of how human beings develop their ideas, what impact others have on them. That's why I have focused--in my own mind and my own interests--on the social structures in libraries."

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In 1978, Libutti earned her PhD in educational psychology from Temple University but found the job market wanting. "Once I thought I got a PhD," she said with a laugh, "this is a dream world. I would get a job into the university or college. As I found out, I didn't. There were so many people like me who didn't; the university jobs weren't open."

She soon found work as a human relations specialist in Teaneck, New Jersey, and then as a teacher and coordinator for gifted and talented students.

By the mid-1980's, Libutti started considering librarianship as a new career field. "I made that transition mid-career. I spoke with numerous people who have gotten doctorates and ended up in university libraries. It's a very similar profile. I chose a field that was very compatible." She entered Rutgers in 1987 and earned her MLS only nine months later. "I was intense and I took advantage of every available technology framework that I could, that I was interested in it."