Your position:
Director of Library Services at Davis College. I like to tell my students that I am their tour guide for information adventures.
Educational Background:
BA in Music with a minor in Education from Mansfield University, MSLS from Clarion University.
What is most interesting about your position?
The variety. Most days, it’s a pleasant combination of library operations and student wrangling. Some days involve giving budget presentations to the Board of Trustees. Others include power tools. Being a solo librarian is a beautiful kind of weird.
What has been your biggest professional challenge?
Accomplishing so much with so little.
What was your background before your current position?
My 5th grade teacher predicted that I would be a librarian. I was offended. I loved reading, but at that point, every librarian I met was mean. My teacher’s prediction haunted me until a friend got me a job in the university library as a first-semester freshman, and I loved it! The librarians were a fascinating group of people, and I felt at home in every department. By the time my senior year rolled around, I realized that I should pursue Library Science.
What would you be doing if you weren't in your current position?
I’ve always wanted to be a train engineer, but don’t love the hours. I’m surprisingly decent at taping and mudding drywall, but I’d get bored. I loved my indexing and abstracting class, so maybe indexing cookbooks? If I weren’t a librarian, I would probably be working toward becoming a librarian.
What is the most interesting issue in your field today?
Just one? Information literacy. Though most of my current reading has been about closing or merging libraries.
What are you most proud of?
Personally, my family. I have a fantastic husband and an amazing 4-year-old daughter. Professionally, increasing library use and user satisfaction while enrollment declined.
What other organizations are you involved with?
Association of Christian Librarians, Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), and the Association of Biblical Higher Education (ABHE).
What advice would you give to someone new to the field?
Librarians like to share information. If you have a question, there is no better group to ask than other librarians.
What software/web tools do you use regularly?
Microsoft Office Suite and our open-source, Linux-based OPAC, Koha. I've also been exploring the vastness of Alma.
Favorite social media platform:
Facebook.
Favorite blog or website:
Pinterest and the NYT Crossword app.
What do you do to relax?
Read, ride my mountain bike, camp, and scrapbook.
What is the most daring thing you've ever done?
During our honeymoon cruise of the Aegean Sea, my husband and I passed on the guided tour of The Acropolis, and instead hailed our own taxi from Pireaus to Athens, toured the ruins on our own, got lunch, shopped, and survived an unnerving cab ride to make it back to the ship on time.
What would you like to learn?
I’d like to learn to read, write, and speak Arabic, become confident with Linux, and figure out how to keep a houseplant alive for more than a week.
Is there anything about you that others would be surprised to know?
I enjoy mountain biking and mountain biking culture. My family makes events out of watching the latest Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cup downhill and enduro races, and we’ll travel to races when they are close enough.
Thank you Shelley!
