It's National Librarian Day! We are devoting an episode to the stories of some of our favorite librarians. Have a librarian you'd like to give a shoutout to? Leave us a voicemail using our voicemail widget!
Here's the National Library Day Podcast rough transcript!
Heather:
Hello, and welcome to the Common Stacks Podcast. Common Stacks is a podcast and community that brings together professionals from within the library world, as well as interesting experts from other to engage in discussions around the issues affecting libraries and looking at the ways in which libraries are dispelling the myth of, well, this is how it's always been done. I'm your host, Heather Teysko. We have had a lot of library themed days in the last couple of weeks. There was National Library Workers Day, National Library Week, Outreach Day, I think was in there. This week is National Librarian Day on April 16th. And so for this episode, we are chatting with some of the librarians who have impacted our lives. We speak to them about how they fell in love with libraries. What made them become librarians and advice that they would give to library students.
There's a lot of golden here and we can't wait to share their stories with you. If you have a shout out that you would like to share about a librarian, who's made an impact on your life or a general library, love story, keep it safe for work. We have a voicemail widget. You can go to librarylever.com/voicemail to leave us a voicemail, right from your laptop that's library, lever.com/voicemail. And we include them in future episodes. You can give kudos to a deserving librarian or just share a random story about something fun that happened in the library. In the last couple of weeks, you can also send us show feedback there too. Again, that's library lever.com/voicemail. And in case you're wondering library lever is the company that brings you the common stacks podcast. It's a new kind of library, procurement brokerage launching in June of this year, though. We would love for you to check it out early LibraryLever.com. So, first off, we're going to speak with Howard Graves, the Associate Dean at Hofstra university.
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So Howard you've had a long career, same place, same, same location. Right? How, how did you, how did you become a library and what's your library love story. Everybody has their story of when they fell in love with the library.
Howard Graves:
Yeah, I thought something like this might be asked and I thought about it a little bit. I tried not to prepare anything cause that would just get me nervous. So I, I thought about it a little bit and I, I was thinking about mine is not so exciting and I could never put a book down or, you know, things like that. I when I went to college. I really kind of got into actually liking the library. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being there and I spent four years with some, some great friends at a great place. And I'll be honest with you. I was pretty disappointed when it was ending and I didn't have any real career plans, you know, that just, I just wasn't driven like that.
So I said, "Well, I'd like to stay some attached to an academic community." And I said, "Well, maybe I'll go to, you know, maybe I'll get a PhD in religion. I was a religion major, believe it or not." And then, and I said, well, come on. I knew that wasn't a realistic and this is 1973 - I'm sorry to have to say that, but might scare somebody away. But and I was looking at one of these magazines that have the prospects for jobs and, and the prospects for librarians, academic librarians was good. It wasn't true, but it was good. So, so I followed up on that and I got a library degree. And I've been in libraries ever since.
Heather:
I'm sure you've seen a lot of rewarding stories. A lot of, I don't know, success stories during that time, there are a couple that stand out to you of ways that you've impacted a student or students impacted you during that time.
Howard:
I don't know, you know, it's, it's, I spent the majority of it in the back in the back room, so to speak. I, I, I was, I came in as a cataloger and then I moved to more responsible positions in tech services. And now I'm in something that's more of overall administration and, you know, it's not, there's not too many of the direct you know, stories with someone comes back to you and says, I can't believe what a differentiate, you know, it really doesn't happen so much with a cataloger <laugh> or with someone who's in, in, in as I am. But you know, what's funny. I, I <laugh>, I, I did, I've served everywhere. I did serve at the reference desk in different stints in different ways and, and for different reasons. And, and, you know, it's really very fulfilling just to have somebody direct somebody and you knew you directed 'em to the right re and, and, you know, you did it and, and whether they get with everything they need, but, you know, that's pretty, that's pretty good in itself. So I like that. That was good. <Laugh>
Heather:
That's awesome. And what's the funniest thing that ever happened to you at the library?
Howard:
Oh, gosh. It's not a very funny place, the library. And so <laugh>, I don't know. Let me think - I'd have to come back to that one.
Rob:
I'll jump in and tell you that one day somebody called me and asked if I could come fix their elevator. And I got really excited cause it sounded like a lot of fun to try, but then I realized there were probably some substantial outcomes if I didn't do it. Right. So
That's my quick, funny story of when the phone rang and it was a library they asked me to do that sounded great, but it was way beyond my, my grade and level to be able to
Howard:
Well, you know, that's, I mean, one thing was ironic is when I, when I started the in, in, it was September 6th or something in 76 I think the, the faculty, or there was a strong, so, you know, you sort of walk in and, you know, you're trying to feel your way and, you know, there's a picket line and, you know, I wasn't angry back then. And, but, you know, it was kind of a funny way to start. I'll tell you that much ironic. Is that, and funny,
Heather:
What kind of advice would you give to MLS students right now who are getting into librarianship?
Howard:
You know, it's, it's interesting. I, I, I think a lot of people wanna go into public service. Well, that's sort of, Hey, I got that one. Right. And, and, and someone comes back and says, well, that's, that's really great. I, I was a in, in technical services and, you know, I found, I, I found that, that it kind of fit me because of, I like to put things in order and I didn't even realize it. And until I, I, I, I started doing it and I, I kind of fell into it. And then as the years went on, I, I, I, I said my goodness gracious. I do it all the time. I'm always thinking in that, those, that fashion. And so, so the advice I, I would give is, I mean, it's, it's hard to say hard to minimize the amount of technical skill that would be useful now to move into, into libraries. I, I, I really think that's where the rubber is gonna meet the roads for the next 10, 10 or 20 years. Where if, if you have skills where you can now how to digitize it, I'm not talking about putting something on a scanner. I mean, all the different stuff that goes that's related to it. And there's a big infrastructure surrounding, related to the metadata. And if you can do that kind of stuff and, and feel comfortable working with in a network environment and learning how to maximize computerized tools, I doesn't, it hard matters where you are, that that I think is, is your ticket to get in.
Rob:
I have two questions, actually. Actually, it's a one question. It's a single question. And then a thank you, Howard. And the question is related to the, the work and flexible schedule that libraries have today. Will we see this becoming normal in the future? Will we see librarians being able to negotiate contracts where they can have a few days in the building a day or two out of the building, maybe one day on the reference desk, or do, do you think libraries are gonna have to go back to brick and mortar?
Howard:
I think it will be the future. I don't know if the future is this year, next year, three years, five years. It is the future. And, and even, even the way we, we have a set up librarians of faculty and, and I can tell you right now, they, I rarely see some of them and, and they don't have a full at, at home work schedule, but they're in different hours. They're different, different days. They can work at home, but a it right now, it can't be a hundred percent of the time. And there's no question. That's the way it is. Our, our reference librarian spend five, five hours at the desk per week. And then they have backup duty perhaps about the same number of hours now in the 35 hour week, that's the 30th time. And you know, the three pieces of what our, our library faculty members do really is that sort of public service component teaching and you know collection development. So it leaves a lot of time for those other things and all those other things can be done in other places.
Rob:
It'll be, it'll be very interesting to see what the future brings and Howard, I, I want to thank you for our very long relationship that has spanned on my side. Now, three different companies. It's always been a pleasure putting your phone number into my phone, or, or sending you an email. It's been my success, knowing you and, and conversations we've had over the years has been really been fantastic. You've shared with me what it's like to be in a large university setting and understanding the, the pressures to make and change technology and keep technology. And, and just wanted to say, I, I really appreciate the relationship and, and most of all, hopefully Howard, this year, you and I could finally go to a met game and maybe this is the best year that we're gonna be able to do that with the team they have put together.
Howard:
I think it's mandatory. You know, look, if I could just send a compliment back to you, Rob, but I, I, I did appreciate our conversations because I learned something about the industry and, and the relationship of libraries to the industry. It was great to have a middle man who, who, who knew, and actually didn't even just know the numbers of a 3% reduction here. But because of, there was a sort of a terrain that you knew, and you understood, there was, there were trends that things that you saw that were your perspective was, was different. And, and, and, and, and I learned a lot. I mean, I'm telling you, I, I hope I hope there was some value to my, what, what I said to you, but because I learned a lot from you and I, I, I, I say this, I would've said it without prompting, but since you said something nice about me, you're gonna get it, you know, but thank you very much, Rob,
Rob:
Thank you for all the years of, of being a great librarian in real, engaging in the industry and participating and, and thank you and, and congratulations and happy national librarian.
Howard
Thank you so much. Great pleasure.
Heather:
Next up, Marge Kappanadze from Elmira College. Remember if you have a shout out you'd like to share about a librarian who's made an impact on your life or a general library love story. We have our voicemail widget at LibraryLever.com/voicemail to leave us a voicemail right from your laptop.
My first question is a lot of people who go into libraries have a library love story, some time that they experienced when they were young at a library or in college, even, do you have a library love story?
Marge:
I wouldn't call it exactly a love story. I spent a lot of time in libraries and when I was in college, I my first job was in the, in the college library. I learned a lot about technical services. I learned a lot about serials and mark records back in the day when OCLC was just Ohio college library, what was the C cooperative? I think and I was in an Ohio college library. And I enjoyed my work. I enjoyed the people that I worked with and as a history major, I loved history. But when I graduated, I, the only marketable skills I had were those that I had learned in my college job.
And they were great because the aspect of libraries that I had participated in was, you know, was kind of unique. I and so I was able to get a job using those skills. And eventually I decided, well, since I'm doing this, I might well go to graduate school and, and get an MLS. So that's what I did.
Heather:
As another history major who didn't have the most marketable skills after college, I I feel you there. So that kind of was my next question of why did you choose to a librarian? And you answered that for me. During your time as a librarian, have you had any kind of like success stories, things that you think that it happened, something happened and you're like, yes, this is why I became a librarian.
Marge:
I think there are very, I often those aha moments for patrons and students. I'm an right now I'm an academic librarian, although I've worked in public libraries and and school libraries, what we do, we kind of take for granted, you know, we organize information and make it accessible to people. But very often while we think that it's intuitive to access that information for a lot of people, it isn't. And when they're looking for something that they really need and they're, they've hit a brick wall, they come to us and we say, oh, well just do this and just do that and try this. And they find it and it, this world opens up for them and they think it's some kind of magic that, you know, we have at our fingertips. And I like that moment that, that we're be, we're able to not find something for them, but show them how to access the information themselves.
And that's always, that's always a nice thing. And I've, I've developed a real appreciation for archivists because I never worked in archives before, but recently we lost our archivist position and my coworkers have been spending a lot of time accessing inform for alumni and scholars and other people. And sometimes you get a little question about, you know, what year did my great aunt graduate from your institution? And for us, it's, you know, for most people, it, it, it's a little thing, but them, it's not, you know, they're flushing out their family history or wanting to know whether their grandmother was really qualified for, I beta CAPA back in 1938, you know, these are big deals to them. And I, I love it that we are able to dig up those answers treasures. They're treasured answers for them.
Heather:
Yeah, it's beautiful. So what's a funny moment that you can had at the library. Have you had any kind of really funny moments?
Marge:
I laugh a lot with my, with my coworkers. I am blessed to work with a couple of really dedicated hardworking People who take their jobs seriously, but don't take themselves too seriously. And I think it makes a lot of difference in the world when you're stressed, when you have a lot of work to do in your, whatever your job is. But when you work with people who are pleasant to work with, it really makes, it makes a big difference in getting yourself into work in the morning and not taking home a lot of angst after work. So I'm very fortunate on that and we, we, we helped some laughs together.
Heather:
That's that's great. And then my final question to you is what advice would you give MLS students now, people who want to become a librarian, people who are just getting into the field, what would you say to them?
Marge:
I would say be flexible. I remember many too many years ago when I was in library school, one for us or said don't come to library school because you like books because in 25 years print will be dead. Well, here were, I hate to say much more than 25 years later, print is not dead and I don't think it ever will be. But I think the thing is that to be flexible technology has changed so much. The approach that we take to information and accessing information to information has changed so much. We're still doing basically the same things, but in very different ways sometimes. And I think for anyone, not just library students, but you never know what life will bring you, and you can apply all kinds of things in all different kinds of settings. And it's a lot of fun and it's amazing if, if you're flexible and allow yourself to do it.
Heather:
Perfect. So brush up on your yoga skills and become flexible. Right.
Marge:
Do those stretches and yeah.
Heather:
Yeah. That's awesome. So those were my questions. And Rob has said that he described you as a fierce advocate for your students and for your staff. So thank you for being a fierce advocate and thank you for the work that you're doing. And and thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
Marge:
Well, thanks. I don't thank myself myself as fierce, but you know, we wanna get the job done and we wanna do it well, and we want to be acknowledged. I think you know, I, I don't know if I should this kind of negative, but it comes to the point where it seems like I, as an academic librarian and I've heard from other academic librarians as well, have sometimes have to ask permission to do our jobs. And we're not recognized and not personally, but we're not recognized in, in our, in our level of profession as an integral part of the academic program. And we, we know that students really need our help and they don't always recognize that they do. And I think faculty members often take it for granted that accessing information is simple because it's simple for them, but it's not always that simple for students. So we are needed. And, and I think, I think just to have that recognition again, not at a personal level, but at a professional level, that, that this is an important aspect of student success and you know, development of life learning skills that's important.
Heather:
And even, and in a public library too, just success for patrons finding jobs and getting the wifi and all of that,
Marge:
Oh, in public libraries, there's so much going on now. I, I was on a the board of trustees of a public library district in, in where I live. And it was just really amazing to see all the things that are going on there. It's just a hub of activities. And it's frustrating to see that some members of the community don't recognize the, the essential aspect of an, of the library, you know, in a lot of people's lives. And they think that it's a ridiculously high budget, you know, to spend for books and they, they just don't get it because they haven't been involved. And it's so crucial to the lives of so many people in so many different ways. Yeah. Its wonderful work that they're doing
Heather:
Next we're going talk to Karen Wikoff, Interim College Librarian at Ithica
My first question for you is everybody has like a library love story when they fell in love with the library. Do you have a library? Love story.
Karin:
Funny. I interpreted the question entirely different. I was gonna tell you about how everyone in our library loves the Lama who comes for stress therapy. <Laugh>
Heather:
That counts too. That's great. Anything involving love? Let's hear it.
Karin:
Yeah, no. I mean a few years back we started having de-stres events long before the pandemic or exams and so forth. And the obvious choice is to have a therapy dog and we've had therapy dogs, but Cornell companions has AAMA and so we have AAMA come over. AAMA couldn't come during the pandemic, but we're getting geared up to have the Lama again for the first time since before the pandemic and people are so excited about it. Other groups on campus are now like where did you get that LAA? They love a Lama.
Heather:
That's awesome. And yeah, I'm just imagining a Lama wandering around the library Lama. That's awesome. Yeah. Do you have a love story yourself of when you fell in love with
Karin:
The library? A love the library? I just think the library has just always been part of my life. Like so many people. I hate it when people say that in an, in an interview like a job interview, I've always loved books, blah, blah, blah, just such a cliche. But you know, as a small child, my mother and father read to me all the time, it took me to the library and my little local library had a little diorama in a glass case of native Americans from that area, like their canoes and the little stream and the kind of buildings that they've lived in. And I could sit in front of that for hours. And that may have been the moment at which I really fell in love with the library.
Heather:
That's awesome. And what made you become a librarian then? Well,
Karin:
That happened by accident. I was a German major in college. I bet that's also a really common story. It happened by accident. I was a student, you know, freshman in the dining hall, slinging slop in the dish room. And a girlfriend said to me, why are you working in the dining hall, get a job in the library. It's the best job I on campus. So I took her up and she was right. And not only that, but it was the German that got me, you know, full time into the library because they discovered I spoke D and they had a backlog of German books needing original catalog. So as a sophomore in college, an undergraduate student assistant, I was taught out how to do original catalog back in the day when that was, you know, a pad of paper and a pencil formatted, just so for the secretary to type up and send off to be reproduced. But that's how I got into library.
Heather:
You've been a librarian for a long time. I was reading your biography. What's been a kind of success story that you've had where you've thought like, oh yeah, this is why I do this.
Karin:
I think that the most important thing that I do is perhaps the sort of thing that doesn't get highlighted enough in librarian work. And that is my work, enabling my colleagues to do the things that they really like doing to do to bring forward exciting new ideas and to have support, to try them out, to fail. If so, what, you know, you try the next thing. I that's been the thing that I am really most proud of is giving opportunities to my colleagues since I've been at, you know, at a mid-level management.
Heather:
What advice would you give to MLS students now to people who are in library school can just trying to get into librarianship?
Karin:
Well, you know, I don't really know how things have changed since I was in library school. Exactly. But for many years they didn't teach the management of electronic resources in library school. And I pastored my Alma mater Syracuse for years on the subject. And finally they let me teach the course myself. I taught two semesters in the I school there on the management of electronic resources, but it was a, you know, topics in type course. And so I taught it twice and then I like they were done and I haven't gone back to look to see, do they have that? So I think that maybe some advice for a person library school is to look for the gaps and, and advocate for the coursework that you're, you're not getting, if there's E resources, class, like libraries don't run without them. <Laugh> how can you not have anything on how to manage them? I think most library schools have a tendency to lean towards the philosophical, the theoretical, and that's all well and good and interesting, but, you know, and maybe that's how they feel like it's more professional or whatever, but you need some practical sort of knowledge to, so look for practical information and I'd also say make mentors while you're, you know, if you have a professor that you get along with really well or your special shared interests, make a friendship, make a relationship that you can go back to later.
Heather:
Very good advice. Those were my questions. Rob, do you wanna hop in here with some thoughts?
Rob:
Yeah, I do wanna just jump in here and per say, you know, thank you Karen, for, for the years of, of giving me the opportunity to build those relationships with, with Ithaca college, the staff we share a mentor in common Lebo was a tremendous influence on my early career confidence building wise. And that's passed on to you now. <Laugh> and I, and I would like to task you to help me continue this mentorship relationship so we can learn more about libraries. We can influence the library degree experience. Collect librarians are such a value to our community and professionally, they have been my north star. And I just wanted to say, thank you knowing you and knowing you as a great librarian has made must and me successful. So, so thank you for that. And we look to getting back into the, the community soon and hopefully come up to the library and plan a fun event so we can get some better comments and better, better vibes for the ethical college library, post
Karin:
We're fun stories, right? We're fun stories,
Rob:
Absolutely fun, fun stories. And Karin, thank you so much for participating and for all of your support both in the past current and in the future, great librarians are, are helping us really bridge to the future. And thank you for that.
Karin:
Well, you're welcome. And in the know it's mutual, cuz you have been really helpful over the years with, I always call it your dog and bony show that it's not really, that makes it, that sort of makes it sound be belittled or something. What I mean is you have always had such an incredible insights and finger on the pulse in terms of the landscape of electronic resources and academic libraries. And the information that you are able to to share with librarians is just invaluable and not to be had anywhere else. So I am very much looking forward to, to continuing to work with you in whatever format you, you reform yourself because you just have that piece of the puzzle that nobody owns.
Rob:
Well, thank you. And that's, that's our goal. Stay tuned.
Heather:
Finally, Ben Ide, head of resource and metadata services at the university of Hartford. Remember our voicemail widget at library, lover.com/voicemail to share stories with us about the special librarians in your life or just general library, love stories.
So Ben, when did you fall in love with libraries?
Ben:
You know, it's, there's a couple of different ways I can go with this. I have to say so when when the movie princess bride came out it, it mentions, you know, the fact that, you know, Peter Falk mentions the book the Princess Bride by S Morgenstern. And I thought, oh man, I definitely need to read that, that book. And so I went to I went to the library and looked for it and find it NA library, loan library, and to find it by me. And unfortunately she, she couldn't find it or me either, but actually got, you know, a copy of the, of the book for me to read. And so I read it and then found out that there is no S more concern. That was something that the author William Goldman had made up. But in the meantime, I found out that the princess bride has a lot more to do with being a human, with being with being people, then it, then it does to be then it's a fantasy book. So it's that, that might be, that might be it.
Heather:
You get, get so many bonus points for mentioning the princess bride. Like I just like I'm swooning. That's amazing.
Ben:
This was, this was something I, I debated whether like how, how deep I wanted to get into this because I became a librarian intentionally. Right. So and, and it was because because of a, of a deep personal need because of the way that I, and I'm not gonna try, I'm gonna try not to go into too, too much detail about this because of the way that I was raised by my parents. I eventually found out that some of the things that I believed were wrong in a very fundamental, and that led me to start thinking, all right, what else am I wrong about? And I decided that I was going to do some of my own research and, and really take a look at some of the fundamental things that I believed. And and in the course of doing that, I realized I knew access to information.
And beyond that, I want unfettered access to information. And now, now of course, like I can, I can pop, open my phone and search the most obscure fact and hopefully find the right answer. Librarian's gonna bring me back the right one. But but then that wasn't really, that wasn't an option. And so I decided, well, if I, if I want unfettered access to all information, then, then I'm gonna have to be the guy I'm gonna have to be the guy with the access himself. And so I decided I'm gonna become, I'm gonna get him a librarian. And so I went and got my undergraduate degree in library science, which is fairly rare use that to leverage a job in libraries and then use that job to, to leverage a master screen library of science and, and here I am.
Heather:
Awesome. Awesome. So, is there a moment that you've had in your career where you've said like, yes, this is why I became a library. This is awesome.
Ben:
Yeah. It, and it actually ties into other stuff that I love as, as, as a person. Right. So I I'm, I'm a tanker. I love building things, fixing things, finding out how things tick and work. And early on in my career working as a librarian, we had we had products that were, so that were, that were iffy <laugh> they were there were prototypes and in particular a lot of people don't realize that pro quest wasn't originally the name of the company. It was the name of a product that the company made. And our library agreed to be beta testers for what was basically a set of jukebox CD, rom juke boxes. It filled up with with CD ROMs that had images of the, of the, the article pages and had indexes and whatnot, and a user would be at a computer and would go and look up something and then do a request for the, for the book.
And then these seated Ram juke boxes to the back, just spin around and grab a disc and spin it back and put it into the reader. Well, they broke constantly. And it was, and at the time it was working night so there than anybody else. So if it was, if it was busted, it would've just stayed busted for, you know, till the next day. So I would just go in and open it up and figure out how it worked and figure out you know, how to fix it, put it all back together and, and get it to work again. That's when I realized that the things that I love loved doing the passions that I had outside of being outside of librarianship is what is what made being a librarian so much more cool. Right. Because it wasn't just about the application of the information that I learned in, in getting a degree. It was a, it was another tool in a kit that I can use to be a more successful me.
Heather:
That's awesome. Yeah. Thank you. That's so beautiful. What is a funny story that has happened to you at the library?
Ben:
All right. So we, I'm an academic librarian, right? So I work with, I work with college students and I had I had a college student who was helping me out in our rare book room. And I'm, I am showing him, like, it's an overview, here's some of the collection, here's some of the things we have and he is kind of nodding and he is just like, right. So I, I decided, and we're gonna, I'm gonna dig out. I'm gonna dig out big guns. And I, I showed him like the oldest rarest book that we have in our collection. And I said, you know, impressively, I said, this, this book was published in 1493. And he was just like, so I'm like, you know, the, the 1493, right? Like, so Columbus was still picking out drapes for the new world, 1493. It's like, oh, I said, all right, let me rephrase this. You know how the 1990s was a really long time ago? Yeah. This book was already 500 years old. It was like, whoa, what? Yeah. That's so that's, that's what it, that's what it takes to be relatable at times, but Hey, I found it. So
Heather:
<Laugh> you got it. You got there. That's great. Then my final question to you is what advice do you have for MLS students now, future librarians?
Ben:
Oh gosh. I, I have to say that I think the people who are going into librarianship now have it, have it so together they really do the people that I, that I'm running into who are recent graduates. The people that I haven't, that I've been in contact with who are currently students, they, they really, they have a vision and and they're putting into action. So I I'm short of advice, Amy. The one thing I can probably say, and this goes back to my own personal experience is embrace your passions, right? The, what you're learning in library science school now is is just a tool, right? It's, it's your, your entree into, into an, into your next level. But it's your passions that are really gonna carry you. But what I really wanna say to them is come find me, tell me what your passions are. Because I wanna know, yeah. Let, let me know what you're, let me know what you're working on. Let me know what, where you're going and, and that can help to inform the work that I do. And I'm looking forward to talking to you.
Heather:
That's so great. Great. That's awesome. That's just beautiful. I have no words. Rob, do you wanna pop in here and say anything?
Rob:
I sure do. I, I just want to say thank you, Ben. We we've worked together for, for many years and appreciate everything you've done for us. Appreciate your efforts. When we would co into setting and meet with libraries, you always would introduce us. You would always participate in our events, connecting us to people in the room. When we felt that somebody was running to the door, Ben, you did a great job of pulling them back in and getting them involved in all of the programs, anything we've been offering and getting in front of librarians. And, and I really appreciate that knowing you has been a joy, it's been a pleasure and it's also been successful for me professionally. So thank you and continue to be an amazing librarian. And we appreciate your time. Ben. Thanks so much.
Ben:
You thank you very much. Well, thank you both very, very much. Appreciate it.
Heather:
Finally, we chat with library lovers own Heather Dray.
Heather Dray:
Oh gosh, I have so many library love stories, but I will say that the first time the power of libraries really clicked in my brain was when I was a little girl and I attended Prairie Grove elementary school in Prairie Grove, Illinois, shout out. And the school librarian, there was a, a wonderful woman, but the library is what I remember the most. It had a loft and only good kids, good readers could go up in the loft to read their books. So that was always an exciting thing to, to be given loft for privileges. But I remember the magic of what libraries can do for you just walking through the stacks there. And I was always amazed that whatever I was thinking about in my 11 year old brain, whatever I was interested in magically appeared on the shelves. And I always thought, how is this, like, what Sourcery is this? This is amazing. In particular, I remember watching an afterschool special about teenage hitchhikers and I was fascinated by this phenomenon on, I did know it was a thing and sure enough, there was a book paperback book on the shelf at the Prairie Grove library about I think it was called diary of a teenage hitch. And I was just amazed by that magic. And that really set me on my path for love of libraries. I'd always love books and reading, but that excited me about the magic of libraries.
Heather T:
What made you become a librarian?
Heather D:
I just knew it's who I was. You know, I know a lot of, of us find libraries or find the profession after already working in another profession, or we sort of stuck humble upon it, but for me, libraries were always my safe space. So throughout high school, I worked in a library, the Broward county public library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When I went to school at university of Georgia, I worked at those libraries. I worked in the DeKalb county public library here in Atlanta. And during my tenure, there is when the wonderful librarians I work with and the administration there supported me when I decided I wanted to go to library school. So I worked full-time at the library there and also attended school full-time on campus, not online school cuz I I'm an on campus person and it was one of the best, most challenging times in my life.
Which I, I would be remiss if I didn't give love and appreciation to two of my instructors there, Dr. Lauren Brown and Dr. Ismail Elahi of park Atlanta university, who really inspired me and raised me upright. Right? So upon leaving there, I worked for a library consortium for 10 years. So I was fortunate enough to work for SONET, which then became lyrics and worked with and served libraries and librarians in another way. From there I became library director at a I Atlanta, which was an education in itself, but I was very proud to work there and serve that campus and the community and work directly with the students. My favorite thing in this world to do. And from there, I scored a great gig at Sage college where I was able to bring well build a team and, and infuse let's just say infuse librarians and librarianship into the field of academic publishing. And I would be again Remis, some of my favorite librarians work for academic publishers, three in particular, Rhonda Contreras, Emily Smith, and Vanessa rush, who inject their energy passion for libraries, bright their brilliance into the academic publishing space. And they make me so proud to be a librarian, but also excited for the future of the profession, right. Because it's changing and evolving as it should. And we're in good hands with, with them.
Heather T:
What's what's been your most rewarding experience as a librarian?
Heather D:
Oh, oh my gosh. That's really tough. Heather Tesco, that's really tough. I I've loved the work I've done with other librarians throughout my career. I've been fortunate enough to travel around not only this country, but other countries and teach and consult with a other librarians. And that's been incredibly rewarding because nothing is more exciting than the first time you walk into a library you haven't been to before, you know, and you learn about how they do everything they do and the way that they do it. So just on the whole, that's been incredibly rewarding. But I have to say that I've always loved working directly with students. And so probably my time at a IU working in the li my office was in the library proper. And just being on the front lines with students again, after having been sort of behind the scenes for so many years was exhilarating, challenging, but really impactful to me, not just as a librarian, but, but as a human being.
And then I have to say, you're not asking this question, but I do have to give a ma major shout out to my lifetime memo mentor. I've never had a formalized mentor, but she's, she, she wins Dr. Jude Thomas, she's currently a librarian at scat, but she has just provided me endless support guidance, tough love throughout all, all the, the turns in my career. And she suffers no nonsense least of all from me. And I, I really have to credit her For the librarian I am today.
Heather T:
Awesome. Do you have a funny story of the funniest thing ever happened? The library?
Heather D:
Oh my gosh, there are too many, well, I'll have to say that my time working in the public library was always hilariously funny. Especially working with kids because kids would come up to the desk and, and ask their questions and they're, you know, they're just charming and, and the things they're trying to learn and understand right on, on their journey through the library always gave me a chuckling and fact, I used to keep kind of a running list, but one of my favorite questions that I a kid asked me one time is he came up to the desk and he said, he's like, isn't it true that once a person dies, then you take their books out of the library. <Laugh> he said, what do you mean why that he's like, you don't keep like old books? And I said, well, you know, William Shakespeare's have been dead for a minute and we still do have the works of William Shakespeare here, but it, it just their, their thought patterns or the ideas they come up with. And the idea that that's how we keep everything fresh and new at the library is we remove books. <Laugh> once, once the author is fast, I thought was interesting. Yeah.
Heather T:
That's very, that's an interesting way of weeding. I would think.
And then the, the final question is what advice you have for upcoming librarians, students and people who are just entering libraries?
Heather D:
Well, that's easy. I would say to just do it your way. I mean, I think there's definitely an idea about what a librarian is, how we're supposed to behave the personality. We're supposed to have path we're supposed to follow and you, you don't have to do it that way. And in fact, it's better for the profession. If you don't do it that way, right. You need to bring your fresh point of view your ideas to keep right, injecting that life and energy back in to the profession. So I, I would just say, don't feel like you have to follow a particular path or define yourself in any certain way, just be yourself. Right. And I mean, that's what libraries are supposed to be about. They're supposed to be diverse, places of that. Welcome all, all thoughts, all walks of life. And not only should they be that way, we need them to be that way. So that would be my advice.
Heather T:
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for your amazing work and your commitment. Beautiful. thank you. I'm glad I get to work with you. I feel very lucky that we're on the same team. I can't wait to see what we do
Rob, what do you wanna throw in here?
Rob:
Well, you know, you've asked great questions and this has been a great week for us to remind all of us about our life story in a library and whether it's our professional journey whether it is our occupation. We all have a, a life story and a library life story. And I realize I've been in the library for pretty, pretty much my entire life myself it's after school programs, it's instead of sports, going to the library, doing my homework. Obviously I have a parent that's a librarian and my destiny was somewhat manipulated to be in this community, but still have memories of, of like third grade getting a call from the library about the book I checked out and I never returned. And apparently I got lazy and I slid it underneath the bookcase and not put it back and through a bunch of questions and inquiries.
I remembered why the book was missing and rescued that particular book, but I've really enjoyed spend in my life in the library and in the community. And professionally, I've worked with librarians not only as part of our business, but as our community and our clients. And I too have a very long list of librarians to think, and don't think I have enough time to do it, but can't think of a better profession or group of people for somebody to start off and launch their career and really be embraced and be welcomed into the library and educated about the library. And the community has always welcomed me and really excited to, to launch our new business. Cuz I know librarians are eager to work with us again and thanks to everybody that has supported us both now and in the past and in the future and hope everybody's ha really has a great national librarian day in librarian. So thank you to the team in front of me. We're gonna be doing some great things and I feel passionate about great things come from librarians and, and knowing that a part of our future makes me very excited. So thanks to both you and your past and more important about our, our future going forward. So thank you.
Heather:
Thank you to all the librarians who took time outta their day to share their stories with us. Remember, leave us a message at library, library.com/voicemail, to share a library, love story with us, or give a shout out to a colleague who deserves it happy national librarian day.