Lisa Play
College Library considers Friday the 13th a lucky day. That is the date in June that Lisa Play joined our staff as a new Public Services Librarian. Lisa, who brings a wealth of teaching experience with her, will focus her talents on reference and instruction at College Library, providing research support to undergraduates at the UW.
A Florida native, Lisa received her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from Florida State University before earning a CELTA certification and teaching English to students in South Korea and Japan. Lisa spent two years teaching in Hamamatsu, a city located between Tokyo and Osaka, but with a view of Mount Fuji. During her time there, she provided English-language instruction for both middle and high school students. Lisa did experience some culture shock moving back to Florida from Japan. The thing she missed the most was the availability of public transportation in Hamamatsu, but found the heat and humidity exactly the same in both countries.
When asked about her career transition, Lisa said, “I realized I wanted to go into librarianship because while I enjoy helping people learn, I wanted to do it in a different mode than face-to-face instruction for the entire day.” To that end she returned to Tallahassee and earned her MLIS from Florida State University. Since her studies were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Lisa is grateful that FSU’s library school had a robust online program. She was able to continue her coursework with little disruption.
While completing her studies, Lisa worked in the university’s Special Collections and Archives which is noted for its sizeable comic book holdings and the Marsha Gontarski Children’s Literature Collection. Upon graduation Lisa landed a full-time position at a Library Instruction Specialist. During her time at FSU, Lisa gained experience in both reference and classroom instruction, teaching library research skills to a variety of classes. Her work provided valuable insight “into what content patrons seek and when they seek it” and also how best to “tap into what motivates them.” One the things she finds most rewarding about library instruction is seeing that “light-bulb moment” when students realize how to manipulate a database. Lisa also likes to demonstrate how to research smarter. For example, she tells students that they don’t have to read an research material front-to-back. As she explains, “There are no spoilers in an academic article. You can read it out-of-order.” This approach, she finds, gives undergraduates both the tools and encouragement to succeed.
In addition to starting her library career at FSU, Lisa also established a number of professional contacts at the university, and perhaps most importantly, met her husband on campus. She continues to build her skills and often seeks ways to use technology to automate tasks. In one instance, she used R (and then Python) to merge email lists, which made contacting faculty much less time-consuming. Lisa is looking forward to finding new opportunities to apply these skills in her role at the UW-Madison Libraries. As she noted, “Like Korean and Japanese, Python is a language and if you don’t use it, it goes away.”
Along with expanding her facility with coding languages, Lisa is interested in reviving a writing habit and, as such, is looking into various writing classes in the area. It is, as she notes, a craft one can practice without a lot of accoutrements. That being said, she also enjoys knitting and crocheting, but has most recently began exploring “circuit bending,” which is taking old electronic toys (such as the 1980s Speak & Spell) and modifying the low-voltage circuits to create new and unexpected sounds and/or musical instruments. Given Madison’s reputation as an outdoorsy, active place, Lisa is looking forward to biking to campus and reestablishing her running routine. She also finds the range of cuisine available in Madison impressive and can’t wait to try new restaurants, especially those featuring Lao cuisine.
We are delighted that Lisa Play in now part of the staff at College Library. Please join us in welcoming her to campus.
