renewed...inspiration
Over this past weekend, the VI cohort of FastTrack MLIS had our once-a-semester 'campus visit' with our professors from Pitt. And in this, our third campus visit, we had a guest lecture by Mr. Wallace Williams--Teritorrial Librarian (of the Virgin Islands). His 'talk' was basically a narrated slideshow chronicling his 30-year career in librarianship...
At any other point in time, this may have come across to me as boring, pointless, or both. But through his soft-spoken demeanor, there beamed such pride with his profession. I was quietly amazed with the near-affectionate manner in which he reflected upon snapshots of his career. And in one form or another, I have encountered this self-affirmation from virtually every librarian I've met since being in this program.
Granted, there will always be those who end up in jobs/careers that they hate with a passion or are just simply "stuck". But (please forgive my naivete) librarianship is a serious calling to those who have willingly chosen to pursue it.
I'll be honest...before hearing about the scholarship for this program, I would have never considered myself the *ahem* "librarian type". Don't hiss and throw stones just yet--you are well aware of the stereotypical image that haunts the field. Now, being on the inside has changed my perspective drastically! I am still a foreigner in that my libary service and experience is limited to cram sessions and research for papers in undergrad. But the desire for more is there... The hunger, nay, aspiration to ascend to the ranks of walking repository of all things medical is welling up within. I picture myself actually getting excited about going to work as a librarian--just the thought gives me shivers (in a good way, of course)!
So that 'talk' by Mr. Williams was a well-needed nudge in the right direction! Apparently, it stirred up the librarians in others within the group--one of my classmates declared interest in continuing on to earn a doctorate in LIS . (You GO, Rebecca!!!) He closed with reference to an online "You know you're a librarian" quiz:
At any other point in time, this may have come across to me as boring, pointless, or both. But through his soft-spoken demeanor, there beamed such pride with his profession. I was quietly amazed with the near-affectionate manner in which he reflected upon snapshots of his career. And in one form or another, I have encountered this self-affirmation from virtually every librarian I've met since being in this program.
Granted, there will always be those who end up in jobs/careers that they hate with a passion or are just simply "stuck". But (please forgive my naivete) librarianship is a serious calling to those who have willingly chosen to pursue it.
I'll be honest...before hearing about the scholarship for this program, I would have never considered myself the *ahem* "librarian type". Don't hiss and throw stones just yet--you are well aware of the stereotypical image that haunts the field. Now, being on the inside has changed my perspective drastically! I am still a foreigner in that my libary service and experience is limited to cram sessions and research for papers in undergrad. But the desire for more is there... The hunger, nay, aspiration to ascend to the ranks of walking repository of all things medical is welling up within. I picture myself actually getting excited about going to work as a librarian--just the thought gives me shivers (in a good way, of course)!
So that 'talk' by Mr. Williams was a well-needed nudge in the right direction! Apparently, it stirred up the librarians in others within the group--one of my classmates declared interest in continuing on to earn a doctorate in LIS . (You GO, Rebecca!!!) He closed with reference to an online "You know you're a librarian" quiz:
I knew it was time for me to retire when I scored 100% correct on this quiz. In all my LIS courses, I had never done that well!
Well, Mr. Williams, thanks to you I look forward to one day doing the same: getting a perfect score on the librarian's quiz AND retiring after a fulfilling career. Thank you for the inspiration!
posted by peculiar VIrtue @ 11:28 PM
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