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My Path to Librarianship

 

As a child, one day a week was spent at the local public library. My mother would take my brothers and me to story hour, and then we would spend a considerable amount of time selecting books to take home with us for the week. I honestly cannot remember a time when I was not reading as a child. Even when I entered school, I made time for reading outside of what was assigned by my teachers.  Reading opened doors to new places and people that I would never have a chance to encounter in Kansas.
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This love of reading led me into the world of history in middle school and high school, and in my sophomore year, my classmates and I were assigned a research paper and speech based on the life of President Eisenhower. I lived in Abilene, KS at the time, so I had the privilege of going to the Eisenhower Presidential Library and working with primary source documents as part of my research process. It was this experience, coupled with my love of history and reading, which made me realize that I wanted to work as a librarian or historian.  The thrill I received from looking at the letters, memos, pictures, lists, and other documents made history come alive for me and made me realize how important it is to preserve these items.

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When selecting an undergraduate major, I was torn between English and History. I chose history because I feel it is so important to remember past mistakes and triumphs of human history. I completed both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Liberal Studies in history, and I have never questioned my choice until recently.  While looking for full-time employment, I ran across a job opening as a university librarian. I read the job requirements and realized that I would never be able to find that type of job without a Master of Library Science degree. I began researching accredited programs in the region, and I found Emporia State University’s Master of Library Science program. With the option of Masters and Doctorate degrees as well as several concentrations, Emporia State has all the options I needed to prepare for a career in any type of library setting.

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My time in the Master of Library Science program has been very rewarding. I knew that I wanted to be a librarian when I started my courses, but I now know why I want to be a librarian and how I want to use this profession to help others. The classes I have taken have reinforced my desire to work in a library, and my course work in academic librarianship and instruction further clarified my career choice. At this time, my goal is to become an instructional librarian at an academic library. 

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To me, the library represents the hub of intellectual activity on a university campus. Whether it is first-year undergraduate students struggling to find their bearings in a new learning environment or graduate students completing extensive research towards their thesis or dissertation, the library acts as a safe haven in the chaotic storm of college life. Librarians serve as the guardians and purveyors of the information stored in the library, and it is our duty to help students not only find the information they need, but to begin to understand its importance and application in their daily lives. For this reason, I am completing my study in library science by taking courses related to instruction and distance education, so that I can help students become information literate members of society.

 

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