What interested you about becoming a librarian?

I’ve always loved reading for as long as I can remember. My grandmother was a librarian so there’s that piece of following in her footsteps a little bit. I used to do, and what I originally went to undergrad for, (was) programming in a religious setting, but I’ve shifted from that as my focus. Being a librarian is a similar kind of thing, programming, ideas, events, and I’ve always enjoyed working with middle school (and) high school kids.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I think one of the things I like about the job so much is that every day is a little something different. I don’t know if this is how most libraries are, but at least for us and at our department, we have a lot of freedom of choosing what we work on. The only hard requirement is two hours a day (where) we’re scheduled on the desk out there where we’re fielding questions, showing where books are on the shelf, or giving recommendations. The rest of the time, I’ve got a desk in the back where I’m planning programming, coming up with events (and) looking at book review journals to decide what books to order for the collection.

What’s your favorite event that you’ve worked on?

I think I’d probably have to put Nerdfest up there as one of my favorites. Me and a coworker, it was kind of our idea to put something on like that. The library had never really done something to that scale, so it was a fun challenge to be like, ‘Okay, can we actually pull this off?’ What are we able to do? And then you do all that work and hope people show up. Turns out, it was a huge interest in the community and this will be the third year of Nerdfest.

What’s your favorite part about your job?

I just love being able to be a part of your guys’ day-to-day lives. There’s not a ton that I’m doing, just keeping an eye on things and making sure everyone is safe and comfortable. But just having the interactions, hearing what you guys are working on, cool stuff like the HiLite and other stuff that you’re working on, that’s all incredibly fulfilling to me. I can kind of be a part of that community with this really cool opportunity of being across the street from the high school. 

What do you hope high school students will get out of the library?

There’s all the typical answers librarians would give of reading books more and using our resources, but honestly for me, I just love that you guys are all using the space for what we intended for and that we’re seen as the goals we originally (had) when we were doing the remodel. (The goals were) a safe place where you guys can hang out, work together as a group (and) do fun activities together. I know a lot of other libraries (have) conversations about how you get teens in the door in the first place, and so it’s really special (with) the mindset of how you guys view the space as well.