If there has been one constant institution in my life (besides school),
it is the library. When I was in kindergarten, I remember checking
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile out of the library. My first library
was in Hinckley,
Minnesota. I remember the old card catalog, and checking out books
on Buffalo Bill and Babe Ruth. Come to think of it, my first wallet
had one card in it: my library card.
From being a kid in Minnesota, my family moved to Homer,
Alaska (10th and 11th grades) and then to Tillamook,
Oregon (12th grade). I always got my library card, and checked out
plenty of fiction, cd's and videos. It was my Tillamook, OR public
library where I discovered Monty Python videos and the music of John
Lee Hooker. My parents may not have liked the Monty Python, but at
least I wasn't off raising hell!
When I went to college at John Brown
University (Siloam Springs, AR), I got a job in the library.
I held this job from August 1995 through my graduation in December,
1998. Graduating from JBU with degrees in History, Intercultural Studies
and Broadcasting, I was uniquely qualified to get a job doing my only
marketable skill: working in a library. I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma
to live with my college friends Brad and Joel, and I found a job at
the Tulsa City-County Library
(TCCL).
I worked for 2.5 years as a Reference and Young Adult Library Associate
at the Peggy V.
Helmerich Branch of the TCCL. While at the Helmerich Library,
I learned the names of romance and mystery novels, could find the
"dinosaur book" section at lightning speed and taught more
Internet classes than I can count. Realizing that without a Master
in Library Science (MLS) degree, I would spend my time working in
libraries doing the work of a librarian without the pay (not that
librarians get paid very well…), I quit my job in August 2001
and moved to Syracuse to pursue my MLS.
At Syracuse, I continue to work
in libraries--this time as a Graduate Assistant / Temporary Librarian
Trainee in the Reference Department of the main
campus library (the E. S. Bird Library).
After all of this, I can say that I am a true believer in libraries.
I love it that libraries are places where one can find revolutionary
literature and a guide to fixing one's toilet.
The reason that I find myself working in libraries is that each day
brings new intellectual challenges. I find academic libraries to be
particularly stimulating, as it is where I can help students and faculty
with their research problems that range from routine reference questions
to in-depth complicated research questions.
