Describe your current position: Director of Libraries & Information Resources, Houghton College
Educational Background: I hold a B.A. in Humanities from Houghton College and an M.S.L.S. from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.
What is most interesting about your current position? The students here are great, the liberal arts college environment stimulating, and—hey—I get to work in an academic library with all of its wonderful resources!
What has been your biggest professional challenge? Budget. I am continually seeking to maximize the impact of the library budget, continually rethinking the delivery of resources and services. With diligence, there always are new efficiencies to be gained or savings that may be reallocated.
What was your background before becoming a librarian? I spent a few years in graduate school reading philosophy before switching tracks to libraries and library science.
What would you be doing if you weren't a librarian? Surely I would be a philanthropist.
What is the most interesting issue in librarianship today? I am excited by the possibilities of the open access movement!
What are you most proud of? Professionally-- I spent six years directing a library at a tribal college in New Mexico. We saw significant growth and maturation of that library, and it was a privilege to serve the under-served and to be part of tribally-controlled higher education.
What other organizations are you involved with? I‘m a member of the American Indian Library Association, for which I serve on the scholarship committee.
What advice would you give to a new librarian? Even if you aren’t religious, make time to take a weekly “sabbath,” a rest from the constant demands of work. You will be more well and more effective for it.
What software/web tools do you use regularly? Both professionally and when assisting students, I continue to derive great benefit from the periodicals and ebook databases to which the college subscribes.
Favorite social media platform: My wife’s Facebook account.
Favorite blog or website: I’m a New York Times junkie.
What do you do to relax? I must spend too much of my working life indoors, so I enjoy practicing outdoor sports—hiking, biking, kayaking, and combat sports—boxing and several forms of martial arts. I also enjoy languages and (lay) sociolinguistics.
What is the most daring thing you've ever done? !!!!
What would you like to learn? Python. I’ve been studying the programming language R, and Python seems the next step on the data science ladder.
Is there anything about you that others would be surprised to know? I must seem very clean cut as people always seem shocked by photographs of me from when I wore long hair and a pony tail.
Thank you David!
