Image of Sam (he/his) with a tenrec, a small hedgehog looking mammal

Meet Sam Eddington- LYRASIS Learning Program Leader

Recently, Sam Eddington joined LYRASIS as the new Program Leader for LYRASIS Learning and Professional Development. Sam is an experienced training professional with a background in developing statewide training initiatives, and has worked in academic, public, and regional libraries. He also served on and chaired many national and state library committees. Sam’s areas of special interest include educational technology, instructional design, children’s literature, and DEIA program development. He holds a B.A. in English (Creative Writing) from the University of Houston, and an M.L.S. from Southern Connecticut State University.

Sam recently took some time to answer a few questions to get acquainted with LYRASIS members and those interested in our professional development opportunities.

As the new LYRASIS Learning Program Leader, what are you hoping to continue to provide and what are you hoping to expand / achieve with LYRASIS course pedagogy?
Sam: I’m hoping to be able to continue offering programs from our positions of strength, which include preservation, digitization, and leadership. I’m also hoping to bring some of the other excellent work that LYRASIS and its members are doing (through the Catalyst Fund, our consulting work, and our community-led software activities, among others) into LYRASIS Learning. I think there are some great opportunities for LYRASIS Learning to serve as a bridge between our work and the wider community of information and cultural heritage professionals.

What class topics and skills are you planning to bring into the LYRASIS curriculum and LLearning?
Sam: We have some upcoming classes I’m very excited about! Some of these include discussions of librarians and trauma; inclusive innovation and libraries; and social crisis management.

As an instructor for Unconferences and Unmeetings (12/1), what do attendees expect to hear and learn?
Sam: I’ve been leading unconferences and unmeetings for over a decade, and I love to use them to generate ideas around problems that may seem intractable. Attendees in that class should walk away with an understanding of what unconferences and unmeetings are, the kinds of issues they can help people solve, and how to manage the event for maximum effectiveness.

As someone who has been a part of the professional learning landscape for over 20 years, what have you seen trend-wise that you feel is something we educators are doing well and which trends do you think we could look into or adapt more widely? Sam: I love the work that’s going on around open educational resources. When I started in the field, OERs seemed to me like a pipe dream, and now there are practical, real-world programs, services, and experts who make OERs a reality on a daily basis. We did a sequence of classes around OERs last year, all of which are available in the LYRASIS Learning Library, and we have a class on best practices in OERs scheduled in the fall, with Jason Puckett teaching. As far as topics that could use wider adoption, I would love to see more partnerships between academic libraries and public libraries, community cultural organizations, and archives. We’re currently looking for an instructor who could teach about tips and tricks for creating and maintaining effective partnerships of this kind. If that’s an area you’ve been working in, please reach out to me – I’d love to bring that information to our LYRASIS community.

Finally, for fun, rumor is you are a musician, what do you play? How can we listen to or find your music? And what are you currently enjoying (LP, artist)?
Sam: I took 13 years of piano and helped put myself through grad school by teaching lessons; I’d consider it my primary instrument. I also sing, play guitar, and dabble in several other stringed, wind, and keyboard instruments.

Here’s a cover of an old Depeche Mode song that one of my current projects, Tanzcafé Hawking Concentrate, put out last year: ▶︎ Just Can't Get Enough | Tanzcafé Hawking Concentrate | PRF Monthly Tribute Series (bandcamp.com)

I’ve recently been reading the book Pink Floyd: All the Songs, by Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin, so I’ve been doing a deep dive into the Floyd’s back catalog. As far as newer stuff goes, I’m really enjoying Pixey, a UK artist whose track “Recycled Paper Planes” is my pick for song of the summer!


You might notice something strange on Sam’s head. This is Nettle, a tenec. You will see more of Sam and Nettle, if you follow us on Twitter, as we will highlight a number of our classes throughout the year. We hope to see in a LYRASIS class soon.

LYRASIS has been serving libraries, archives, and cultural heritage with training and professional development courses as a part of our core services to members and nonmembers for over 75 years.. With a strict adherence to provide the best in field for expertise, LYRASIS has a reputation of offering quality training and professional development for any stage of learning and beyond core competencies. Please click for more information, browse the current Fall schedule, and to register for classes.