In Tuscaloosa, Ala., a crimson flag \u2014 seemingly out of place with its white cougar symbol \u2014 floated above the heads of excited fans on ESPN game day Nov. 9, 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Puzzled, Erica England asked her nephew about the flag. She realized it was the same logo as the university job she recently applied for, one that felt like the job description was written just for her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She knew where she was going next, and WSU\u2019s Cougar pride simply sealed the deal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA school that has that much pride that they are adamant, \u2018Ok, you\u2019re not coming to WSU, so we\u2019ll basically come to you for all the game days,\u2019 that just clinched it for me,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2018That’s the school I want to work at.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For six years, England has served as the WSU Libraries\u2019 first-year experience librarian, helping freshman, transfers, and Veterans Affairs students develop research skills. Each year, professors bring their classes to the libraries for two days of instruction on subjects like topic refinement, evaluating credible sources, and developing research questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before interacting with classes and working with students one-on-one, England said she likes to form a rapport with each instructor, meeting for coffee and joking with them in class. She believes it helps \u201cknock down that wall of anxiety\u201d and allows students to see her as just another person who does not know everything \u2014 simply where to find it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am no longer this person that they have put up on this pedestal of knowledge,\u201d she said. \u201cI am just a big dork, and they get to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teaching Assistant Professor Jamie Flathers said her English 101 students are convinced they are bad at research and are nervous to interact with librarians. When they describe their research methods, it is obvious why: teachers expected their students to know how to conduct research without teaching them the proper methods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen they have had an experience where somebody says, \u2018Go do this thing,\u2019 and they stumble, it makes them believe that they are bad at it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they learn these tools from Erica, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, this makes it so much easier!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fall 2022, one of Flathers\u2019 students was struggling with his research project, which had a vague concept of defining the \u201cfuture of reading.\u201d Flathers had a difficult time helping him narrow down his research question, so England spent hours helping him, finally finding an article by American author John Green on how the future of literature changes alongside the needs of its audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once they found the article, the student\u2019s research was propelled in a new and more specific direction, helping \u201cplant the seeds of critical thinking\u201d later on, Flathers said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s just that one thing, that one piece of information, that students can grasp onto as they move forward,\u201d she said. \u201cThat really stands out to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
England said she loves nothing more than when she overhears her students explaining her lessons to someone else, knowing they are sharing their \u201clightbulb moment\u201d with others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also has a knack for making students feel comfortable with her southern charm and tendency to bring in candy for her students, Flathers said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI love it when we go into the library because I get to see her and give her a great big hug, and she gets to make fun of me for the way I say soda,\u201d she said with a laugh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
England has no fear of talking to new people after being an \u201carmy brat\u201d and living in at least 12 different places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m the annoying extroverted extrovert, where I look at the world as, \u2018Everybody\u2019s my best friend, they just don\u2019t know it yet!\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s just who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moving every three years, England said she gained a sense of appreciation for new foods, languages, and religions \u2014 the world was her hometown. In high school, she lived in Germany and was there when the Berlin Wall fell and the United States launched Operation Desert Storm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She watched German television, listened to German music, and spent weekends at her friends\u2019 houses because her bus ride to school was two hours each way. England said she realized the world was much larger than most American teenagers imagine, and she gained much more independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, when she works with student veterans and dependents, she can relate to the different lived experiences of 22-year-old veterans compared to those of traditional 19-year-old freshmen. She said she holds a special place in her heart for veterans like her dad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
England still gets an itch to move every three years, which will likely stay with her for the rest of her life, but lifelong learning is something that scratches that itch, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flathers said England believes everything is interesting, an indispensable trait in a librarian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe believes that improvement is always possible and there\u2019re always more things to learn,\u201d Flathers said. \u201cShe\u2019s incredibly committed to discovering new connections between things, and thereby being able to help students do that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May 2024, England hopes to finish her doctorate in Cultural Studies and Social Thought in Education through WSU\u2019s College of Education. She studies equity, diversity, and inclusion issues within academic library collections and how \u201cupholding the status quo of diversity\u201d negatively impacts students and faculty of color. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of her dissertation is to build a toolkit helping librarians solve these issues because many are operating under budget constraints and skyrocketing publication costs. She said a one-stop shop of independent publishers representing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) voices, resources on how to conduct a diversity audit, and interviews from graduate students is essential for researchers to see themselves reflected in their institutions\u2019 collections, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the main missions of librarians is to serve our community. Well, if we\u2019re excluding part of our community within the collections, are we actually really serving it?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
England said balancing her degree, work, and parenting as a single mother was difficult. She had to intentionally carve out time for her sons and herself, but she loves learning, especially in the supportive research environment at WSU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b\u200b\u201cIt\u2019s a roller coaster \u2014 it\u2019s had its ups and downs \u2014 but for the most part, it\u2019s been a pretty fun ride,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Tuscaloosa, Ala., a crimson flag \u2014 seemingly out of place with its white cougar symbol \u2014 floated above the heads of excited fans on ESPN game day Nov. 9, 2019. Puzzled, Erica England asked her nephew about the flag. She realized it was the same logo as the university job she recently applied for, […]","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[82,80,81,54,83,56],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-browse","tag-english-101","tag-erica-england","tag-first-year-experience","tag-research","tag-wsu-college-of-education","tag-wsu-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.wsu.edu\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}