I got a great e-mail from a reader and an aspiring library science student wanting to know more about my profession.  This got me thinking – my blog is a place where I share what’s important to me with you, my lovely readers.  Yet, while I mention my profession frequently, I’ve never really taken the time to talk specifically about what I do.  So I’m beginning a series of posts about librarianship and what I do, and why I love my job so much.  Hopefully, you’ll find this interesting and entertaining I love talking about my job.

Part 1:  What led me to become a librarian?

Let’s rewind back to the summer of 2005.  I quit my job working as an in-house roadie at a local concert/event venue to go to Nicaragua.  Once I got back from my six week stay there, I needed a job.  I also began to realize that I needed a job with actual, consistent hours since I was nearing the end of my bachelor’s degree.  The mom of my boyfriend-at-the-time was a children’s librarian downtown, and she told me that there was an opening for a library assistant at a local library.  I interviewed for it, but then didn’t get it because someone from another branch got promoted into it first.  But they really liked me at the interview and recommended me to another branch who needed a Library Page (re:shelver).  I got the Page job, and then ended up at the library I originally interviewed at a few months later.  I then went on to work different positions at several different branches over the next two years: Library Assistant (shelving and circulation), Library Technical Assistant (reference, computer instruction), etc.

(me, as a Library Technical Assistant in 2006.  Luckily, I’ve learned how to smile for photos since then. )

Meanwhile, I finished my bachelor’s degree, got broken up with, and met my current boyfriend (at the library).  I was only working part-time, and just as I graduated, the economy was starting to get bad, and the county froze all full-time positions.  I went for about six months working part-time and living off savings before I realized that this wasn’t going to work.  For a long time, I refused to really consider librarianship for a profession – everyone thought that I was working on my library degree, but I didn’t really want to get one.

(me in 2009, working as a substitute for media specialists)

But I enjoyed my job, and it just became the logical next step to go back to school and get my Master’s in Library Science.  I left the public library, took out some loans, got a job as a graduate assistant, and got my degree.  I looked at all the available librarianship avenues and decided that school librarianship sounded the most enjoyable to me.  It took me about six months of substituting and working grant funded jobs before I got seriously lucky and got my position at the middle school that I still work at today.

(me in 2011, at my current job as a middle school librarian)

Up next in this series: Part 2: What gets me excited about my job?  Got a library related question you’d like to have answered in this series?  Shoot me an e-mail:  DianaLynnSmiles *at* gmail.com. (replace *at* with the @ sign)