Heard Wonders    ...a journey of curiousity

The Journey to Library Science

I was introduced to the wonderful world of library science through my student worker position in undergrad. I was really attracted to working in the library because it seemed like interesting work. It was and then some! I worked as a librarian assistant and did very well at learning new tasks and proving I took my work seriously. The librarian gave me more responsibilities as time progressed, and I developed more interest in expanding my knowledge of library work outside of college.

When it came time to finish up my studies, I had several options on the table to choose from: find an art related job or internship, work in customer service, or begin full-time work as a library assistant. I chose the latter. Three days after I graduated, I started working at Chicago-Kent College of Law. As a Law Library Specialist I, I learned about library services on a larger scale than my cozy private college, and assisted the library in a variety of projects. When I began my employment at Kent, I made it my goal to work for five years at the most as a support staff before I decided if pursuing a graduate degree for library science was really something I wanted to do. I think at the point my goal came to fruition, I already knew I would enjoy making it my career choice. In 2014, four years after graduating college, I enrolled in graduate school at the University of Washington.

I came into the program wanting to be a catalog librarian or archivist/preservationist, and as I prepared to finish the program, my original thoughts returned. My internship focused on cataloging and archives management. I feel very at home with the duties I was assigned and find that the tasks fit my personality well in regard to analyzing serval pieces of information and choosing the best option. I enjoy puzzles and organizing, and the two elements make up key procedures in cataloging and archives management.

Now that I have finished my degree and am in the field, I am still very eager to expand my horizion and learn new skills.