LibraryRoutes project

So there's been a meme going around for a while to talk about how you got into libraries. Well, I posted about it way back here in Aug. 2008. But, I've decided to copy and paste it below so that I can update it (wow are some of my sentence structures weird or what??) so that y'all can see how I've progressed and what not.

So how did I get here? I guess it was fate or destiny or the fact that I liked to read that led me to coming into libraries (and yes it is a cliche and yep it did still take a while.) My first real experience with a librarian was in High School.  I started spending spare time in the library and reading pretty much every book that I could get ahold of...and one of the librarians noticed that I kept coming in.  And that's when she started recommending books to me. She even brought books in for me that she thought I'd like that her husband was no longer interested in! So that kinda of stuck in my mind when I started looking for work study when I went to college and I applied to work at the campus library and got in.

I worked in Circulation and learned the in's and out's of access services pretty well. I was able to help with shifting, shelving, and just about anything that came across the Circulation desk. I remember my first year there pretty well, mostly because I was made to clean toner bottles. Not sure why, but that was something they made all freshman did (mostly for torture I think). But I stuck with it and I switched to working weekends and getting some extra hours outside of work study money. I struck up a friendship with the student that was my boss and learned even more about libraries (he eventually went to library school.) When he graduated I got to train the person that was my boss on the weekend and we ended up becoming pretty good friends (I was in his wedding a couple of years ago.) We supervised the student assistants on weekends, wrote their evaluations, and made sure basic tasks and duties got done, and that the building was opened and closed on time. And when he graduated I took on that job for the last semester.

I was art education in undergraduate and had a bad teaching experience so decided to go to grad school in Art History. But it never sat right. Even when I was at the college's main library I would want to show their staff and student's how to treat your patrons, providing a comfortable atmosphere, and providing excellent service (I never did, but I wanted too). A professor even asked why didn't I go into it. So I left after a year, without the degree and went to work at the library at Johns Hopkins University in a staff position.

Although my position was a bit odd, I had a boss tell me all jobs in the library were boring, I worked with a great group of people and met really cool librarians. I worked the evening/weekend shift and in stacks/building maintenance. During these hours I really had a chance to work with students and help them find materials. I got to find out what librarians really did and how tech services worked. I knew that I wanted to stay in libraries, but the questions was where? I had great ideas on how to improve services, but sadly I wasn't really listened to at Hopkins for various reasons, but mostly because I wasn't in a position of power in my department.  I decided that if I wanted to be able to really make changes, I needed to go back to school and get my MLIS.  And my friend from undergrad (the one whose wedding I was in) had just finished his MLIS at University of South Carolina and he spoke highly of the program.

So I left Hopkins, moved back to SC and attended University of South Carolina via Distane Education. I met some great people, had some interesting professors (that's another post in it's entirety!) and finished my MLIS in one year (yes one year I know its unusual to some folks.) During that time span I worked at a two libraries PT and gained experience working on the reference desk at one of them.  I decided I wanted to stay in public services and began looking for work before I graduated.  I had a few interviews and landed the position of Interlibrary Loan/Circulation Services Librarian at my current place of work a couple of weeks before I graduated.

As I wrote about previously I switched positions last summer and...well my time here has been interesting and I've learned more about myself and what I'd really like to do as a librarian.  I've enjoyed the ride and don't regret a moment of it (most days :).

New job...from July 2009

So as I mentioned a couple of posts back in July 2009 I started a new position at MPOW as Learning Commons/Emerging Technologies/Interlibrary Loan Librarian plus my continued duties as reference/instruction/liaison/tech type person. This new position came as a result of a series of events of people leaving and people requesting changes (including myself) and other events going on.

I can't (and won't) post a lot of the reasons why the change needed to happen, but I was glad for it. I've been in public services every where I've worked and in Access Services in all of my library jobs. During my career I'd come to be enthralled with new areas of the library and was ready for a change and a chance to show what I could do in these other areas. And I'm grateful that MPOW has allowed me to pursue some of these opportunities that I'd been...encouraging them to explore for the last few years. Now I get to take the lead on projects and its actually part of my job which makes it easier to sell.

And yes it is a lot to my name and their are days where I want to pull my hair out and yell "I can't do it all!!!" But its not out of frustration, its more out of the sheer number of ideas that enter my head and get jotted down somewhere or told to colleagues in an effort to help make their lives easier or complete projects that they've been talking about for a while. I have so many ideas that I want to explore, because I want to help transform MPOW into the next century.

And while I'm playing catchup with Emerging Technologies compared to other places, I'm watching for that next tool that will take us beyond. And while we won't have the traditional Learning Commons, I want to redefine how some people view it. I want to find what will make it work for MPOW, my patrons and not everyone elses. I want to challenge myself to not think of things in their traditional means in any area. With ILL I want to look at what can be done to make it easier for patrons to get materials and make it easier on staff not having to deal with outdated and useless technology.

I plan on blogging about some of what I'm looking at and doing during this year. So stay tuned!