The Ideas
Over the course of this semester I
have been able to experience firsthand the kind of work I wish to make my
career, as an intern in the Bryan
College Library. From attending staff
meetings to circulation desk duty to writing sections of the policy and
procedure manual, I’ve learned a lot about my chosen career path, and have been
given a realistic look at the inner workings of the library profession.
The library and information
profession is one that contains a lot more than meets the eye. I’ve known this, from things I’ve read as I’ve
researched what I want to be “when I grow up” but this internship has really
provided that inside look at what lies
behind all the books. The library
profession has been really romanticized over the years, as we can see in the
example of the librarians of movies, like Marian from the Music Man and the
librarian in the Mummy , as well as countless
stereotypes in literature and other
media. To the uninformed individual, being a
librarian is just a retired teachers job, or the occupation of shy, spectacled
bookworms. While both of these can
certainly be true, it is not all there is to it. When I talk to people about
what I’m in school for, after their glazed over look in response to my very
general sounding undergraduate studies,
I often get a puzzled or surprised look
when I tell them what I plan to study in graduate school. “You can go to
school to be a librarian” they often ask. I tell them that to be a professional
librarian, full-fledged and certified, you indeed must earn a masters degree in library and information
sciences.
I think the key term in understanding
the library profession is, in fact,
“information.” Library connotes a building full of books. Information
triggers a much broader spectrum of ideas, vastly dynamic and affecting so many
areas of the human existence. To me, the library and information profession is
about the preservation, organization and perpetuation of information. We are
the keepers of knowledge, cataloging the past to give to the future. Just as in the medical profession we have a
wide range of jobs from Nurse Tech to Family Practice to Research Doctor, the
same is true of the library. There are many different faces of the library,
from Public services to Directors to Library Technicians and Catalogers. Some
you may see on a daily basis, while others you may never meet, however, they
are all crucial to the field.
Personally, I have a inclination toward the
Public Services aspect of librarianship, and I had some excellent opportunities
to get some hands on experience here. I love to connect with people, and I was
given this opportunity through planning, communicating and hosting a library
event as well as interfacing with
library patrons as I worked the circulation desk.
Continued Education
When I graduate from Bryan I plan on
continuing my education at the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences. UT’s program
is accredited by the American Library association, which is a must for the
student looking to make a career out of professional librarianship. I am mostly interested in UT because of its
proximity to home, and the fact that as a state school, its reasonably
affordable. I have also heard good things about its MLIS program from various
co-workers in the past.
As a graduate student I plan on concentrating
on public librarianship. The emphasis on community literacy and opportunities
to build relationships with patrons in a meaningful way is a passion of mine as
I’ve worked in the public sector of libraries before and found it extremely
rewarding. I would love to specialize even further in children’s librarianship
as I have a deep love for childrens literature, and I believe that influencing
literacy and a lifelong love of learning at a young age is crucial, therefore
one of the most important roles I could fulfill. I have specific librarians in
my own life who were influential in my love of language and literature, who
have definitely inspired me to pass that on to the next generation.
As I’ve read library journals and multitudes
of blogs over this semester I have found common theme in the sector of public
librarianship that sees these public libraries re-evaluating how they “do”
libraries. I’ve been fascinated by the concept of the library as a public
learning space. Especially thinking of youth and children, some libraries have
reformatted space in to less of “quiet study”, though this still remains in
other parts of the library, but more of a learning commons. I’ve read of
creation labs, which provide patrons with access to state of the art media
technology, encouraging young people
to set up and become the next great
creators of the future. Open mic nights
and poetry slams that give young writers a platform to showcase their skills
might just be the thing needed bring forth the Neil Gaimans and J.K. Rowlings
of this generation. As a librarian in the public field I would love to inspire
and shape these young people, not only through
putting the great authors in
their hands but giving them the opportunity and encouragement needed to become
great authors, artists, filmmakers, engineers and architects of the future.
Useful Resources
I have found various resources that have been
useful to me this semester. American
Libraries , the journal of the ALA, has been very helpful in informing me
about various library trends and other current library issues such as the eBook
debate and copyright issues it involves. Library
Journal, was also great. I found the pages and pages of book and other
media reviews extremely interesting as a lover of books, and I can only imagine
how helpful it would be as a librarian in charge of acquisitions. I’ve also
found several library blogs ranging from humorous to purely informational to
opinion based that have all been useful.
Also, in this day of multi-social-media, I
have found many great connections on various points from pinterest, to
facebook, to twitter. I now follow the Association for Library Service to
Children (ALSC) on twitter and get
regular updates from their blog which I’ve found wonderfully informative. I’ve also enjoyed keeping up with my own blog,
in an friendly manner which I hope would
encourage the idea of the approachability of librarians.
Career Goals
With graduation looming next
semester I am quickly being thrown towards making final decisions about
graduate school, and all of that. I know that then, graduate school will fly by
and I’ll be looking at what I want to do, what I can do next. Three years after graduate school, I would love to be
working in practically any position in a public library of any size. I know
that it will take time to work towards the kind of position I might want and in
that time I will be best occupied by making myself useful and proving my skills
and ablilties.
Seven years after graduate school I
would love to be in a position of directing youth and/or children’s services at
a good sized branch library. I could then pour in to the families that I serve by
providing them with excellent material, learning my demographics and what would
best profit my patrons. I would love to plan events from the regular weekly
storytimes to summer reading to books clubs, and if possible facilitate these
events.
Twelve years out of graduate school,
to be honest, I really hope by that time to be married, with kids and teaching
them at home. Even so, at home and involved in homeschool co-ops I can see
myself still putting my training to use by teaching fellow homeschool moms how
to make best use of library resources as they teach their children at
home. I could still facilitate literacy
through homeschool book clubs and research classes.
Though the above is really my
“dream” job, a more business like answer would be to say that my ultimate dream
job would be to work as a solo librarian in a small town library. The solo librarian wears many hats and does
it all, from acquisitions to events to grant writing. It’d be hard, but oh so
rewarding, because unlike the large branch libraries the opportunities to pour
into the community are greater and deeper patron relationships can be formed. I
say this because I’ve seen firsthand the impact a small town library can make
on its community when I worked at the South Cheatham County Library in Kingston
Springs, Tennessee.
Im excited about what the future
holds for me through the remainder of my time at Bryan and on into graduate
school. This internship has been great
in cementing my desire to follow this library and information science path to
completion.
