Title: Reference Librarian
Working @ the HPL library: November marks my 25th year!
1. Describe working at Library in 3 words or less.
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1. Challenging, because I want to be sure I'm providing the best and most thorough help possible when providing reference services, when providing reading advisory services, when assisting with all the new, constantly changing technology ...this isn't your grandmother's library.
2. Pleasant. Most anyone in the library is there because they want to be and the environment is lovely;
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3. and many days, thanks to our bright, inquiring, amicable patrons, Entertaining
2. What is the best part of your job?
Best part of job: The wide range of people I interact with on a daily basis. In one day I helped a 90 year old patron find our copy of the book IPAD for Seniors for Dummies, a job seeker needing help writing a resume, a teen wanting help finding some classic noir movies, someone needing help downloading an e-book, a second grader wanting Captain Underpants Books, among others. And everyone left Happy! Another nice thing is sharing- Patrons love sharing the great books and movies they've enjoyed with us, as we do with them.
3. Favorite recent reads?
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan, The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer; The Good House by Ann Leary; With or Without You, a Memoir by Domenica Ruth.
4. What is the most memorable reference question/request you've ever had from a patron?
A while back, the LMK Middle School Librarian called the reference desk asking for help. She wanted to know what the M in LMK stood for. This seemed like a relatively easy question to find the answer to. I looked though the usual resources, local history information, microfilm. The more I kept digging the more I realized how elusive the information was. My colleagues joined the search. We came up empty. In my off hours I spoke to a local postman friend of mine, relaying our hunt. It happened that Mr. Klein's family was on his postal route. I asked if he would mind asking a family member for the answer. Mr. Klein's son-in-law provided the answer.
I'd also like to mention a most memorable experience which was the role our library played for so many people during Super Storm Sandy. Even though we didn't have full power, the library became a safe haven, a warm place to be, a place to recharge-literally and emotionally. I'll always remember what the library looked like and felt like that week, every day, people waiting for us to open, people sitting everywhere, people supporting each other and commiserating with each other and the staff going the extra mile to make people feel at home while they were at the library, many from opening to closing.
5. A book about your life would be called?
“Resiliency: Tales from Outside the Comfort Zone”
6. Something most people would not know about you:
I've walked on my lunch hour almost every day since I started working at the library in 1988.
7. Three words to best describe you:
Independent, reliable, contented
