Tag Archives: librarianship

Intersection

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Steve Thomas is a 36 year old assistant branch manager at a public library in Georgia. He has worked in libraries for almost ten years and lives outside Atlanta with his wife, daughter, and two cats. You can follow him on Twitter @steve_librarian or contact him at steve[dot]librarian[at]gmail[dot]com. He likes cookies.

I’m a librarian because my wife told me to.

Now, this is not the way my career started. In fact, my love of books had originally led me to a career in the bookstore business, where I was able to satiate some of my OCD-tendencies (don’t all librarians have a touch of OCD?) with shelving, straightening and organizing materials. The organization system was no Dewey and certainly no LC, but it was a start. I also got to interact with the general public, connecting them with the information and goods for which they were searching. A few years into my bookstore career path, I met my wife while we were working at the same store in Florida (according to her, you can find anything in a bookstore… even a husband), and while this “acquisition” filled one void in my life, my career felt uninspired, despite the positive aspects of the work. I moved up to supervisory positions but without any real drive. Something was missing.

One day, after we’d moved to Atlanta, my wife forwarded me an email from her graduate school about an opening at the library on campus. I applied and got the job. I loved working in the library, and it felt like I was heading in the right direction in my career. I completed library school while continuing to work at the library full-time. Unlike in the bookstore, I felt pride in my progress from a position in the stacks to a position that allowed me to work in both the reference and serials acquisitions departments. I got to work hands-on with information in a more detailed way, both in depth and organizationally. My community was a wealth of students, faculty, and staff, and I relished serving them one-on-one at the reference desk and behind the scenes in Acquisitions. The reference work in particular was instructional – the whole “teach them to fish” analogy – rather than simply gathering and passing on information to a customer in need.

However, once the time came to find a professional position, I hit that same wall many library school graduates do: there weren’t nearly as many jobs as they “promised” when I was in school. This is especially an issue in academic libraries, where I was determined to work. My wife insisted I should look into public libraries, but I resisted. Why was I so determined to remain in academic libraries? Because I loved the job I had so much that I wanted to work at an institution like that forever. So instead of waiting to find the right library job for me, I took a job that, in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have. It was an attractive job at an up-and-coming private college with grand promises of the future. After 18 months in the position, the administration and I could not come to agreement on how to serve the student population, and I lost my job.

At this point, I found myself adrift, wondering if I’d made the right career choice. I took a day to let myself wallow in self-pity then picked myself up, dusted myself off, and moved headlong back into the job-seeking business. I soon found myself applying for any job that I seemed vaguely qualified for: archiving video footage for television stations, reference work at community colleges, cataloging at universities far away from home, and what seemed oddest to me at the time, working at the local public library. Soon after, I scheduled an interview at the public library, and at some point before my interview, it hit me. The public library was the perfect intersection for my interests, allowing me to take the things I loved from bookstores and combine them with the things I loved from academic libraries. I could have that one-on-one time with the general public, helping people who don’t necessarily know how to find what they want and need and combine it with the more in-depth information available in the library’s collections. I could feel like I was contributing to my community while at the same time instructing patrons on how to find further information on their own.

I got the job and am the happiest I’ve been as an employee since I got to take home free pizzas while working at Pizza Hut.

Sometimes it pays to listen to your wife. (She says I should say “always”.)

Interested in submitting something to the Young Librarian Series? Check out the submissions page or send us an email at: younglibrarianseries@gmail.com. See you next week!

Blog Highlight: Librarian Trading Cards

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Amy Pelman is a 31 year old Audio and Teen Outrach Librarian at the Burlingame Public Library in California and the author of Librarian Trading Cards.  You can contact her with questions at: amypelman[at sign]gmail[dot]com.

The Young Librarian Series invites you to check out Librarian Trading Cards!

http://librariantradingcards.blogspot.com/

Here is Amy’s description:

My hope for the blog is that it will help shine a light on the varied individuals who make up the profession, as well as the changing face of librarianship.

I am concerned that not enough people view public libraries as a vital institution. I fear that it’s our fault for not conveying well enough how important we are, how hard we work, how passionately we defend a person’s right to free intellectual pursuits. 

The perception of libraries and their value keeps me up at night, not only because I passionately believe in public service and intellectual freedom, but also because my career is young and it is extremely hard for me to picture what the profession will look like in 30 years. I want to help shape and revolutionize that perception.

This is the first in a series of blog highlights from young librarians in the blogophere.  If you are interested in having your blog highlighted on the Young Librarian Series, please send your blog’s URL and a brief description to: younglibrarianseries@gmail.com.  Thanks! ~leah


Dream Job

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Melissa Fortson is a 30 year old library assistant at a Braille and talking book library and is currently attending The University of Alabama’s School of Library and Information Studies.  You can read more about accessible library services on her blog.

I’m a young librarian because of Playboy magazine: a Braille edition of Playboy magazine, to be exact.

Let me back track a little.

As an Alliance of Information & Referral Systems (AIRS) Certified Information & Referral Specialist in Aging (CIRS-A), I began my career bringing people and services together. While working in this position-which has its own ties to the library community- I learned of library services for people with disabilities.

I did a lot of outreach work; this sometimes included staffing booths at conferences and other events. On one such occasion, my program was assigned to a table adjacent to the state’s Braille and talking book library. As I watched the librarian show attendees audio and Braille library materials- including the aforementioned Playboy- I thought to myself: “Wow. THAT is my dream job. Who is lucky enough to get to do THAT?”

Well, me, that’s who. I left my work in the disability community to pursue a career in librarianship, and, less than two years later, here I am: an MLIS candidate and library assistant with a Braille and talking book library.

When I contacted Leah about contributing a post, I realized that there are not a lot of under-40 librarians working in this area of librarianship. Why, then, am I passionate about library services and people with disabilities?

It’s about learning. While my MLIS program does not offer a course dedicated this area of study, I’ve compiled a history of library services for people with disabilities, developed a research proposal addressing access to information and patrons with disabilities, and, through an internship, served as the librarian at a children’s center that provides emotional and behavioral services. My LIS coursework is complemented by the less formal learning opportunities that present themselves each day, through listserv discussions, association participation, and- the most fun and important way I learn- interacting with patrons.

It’s about teaching. Because it is somewhat unique, I have lots of opportunities to introduce others to this area of librarianship and promote disability awareness and etiquette. It’s my belief that it shouldn’t take “special” programs to serve patrons with disabilities.

It’s about technology. Coursework in information technology challenged me to teach myself more about accessibility and usability. In addition to offering my own accessible website, I can now help other professionals do the same. I am really excited to be involved in the NLS/BPH digital transition, and I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to get library patrons excited about it too.

It’s about people. My fellow ALA members are probably familiar with the Library Bill of Rights, but did you know that there is an interpretation of the LBOR specifically addressing library access for patrons with disabilities? It closes- and I will, too- with the following:

“The preamble to the Library Bill of Rights states, ‘all libraries are forums for information and ideas.’  By removing the physical, technological, and procedural barriers to accessing those forums, libraries promote the full inclusion of persons with disabilities into our society.”

Thanks to Leah for providing this forum, and thank you for reading.

Do you have a concept you would like to be featured on the Young Librarian Series?  Send an email with your idea to: younglibrarianseries@gmail.com or visit the SUBMISSIONS page for more details! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week!