Hello, my name is Hope D. Alwine, and I'm beginning my journey through the Masters of Library and Information Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (try saying that three times fast). So to give you a small introduction about myself and my journey of a librarians thus far, let us us begin: HOW DID I GET HERE?What seems like eons ago, I wanted to be a marine biologist....then I dissected a squid in junior high and decided that was not for me. Then I wanted to be a politician, preferably a Senator for Congress, representing my birth state of North Carolina. There was a minor part of my life where I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, but I lack the mathematical skills and my first experience on a roller coaster was not a pleasant one. I did some minor campaign work and went through my courses to receive my Bachelors of Science in Political Science from Western Carolina University. Problem was, while I love political science, much of the actual politics like running campaigns, making empty promises and aging prematurely due to lots of coffee and stress just did not appeal to me. Also, Western Carolina wanted to graduate me a year early so I decided to become a double major, adding my History major during my Junior year (or whatever was the equivalent at that point...after a certain amount of hours, you stop using the vocabulary and just say upperclassman or simply, not a freshman). I was reintroduced with a love of libraries through research and my internship at Hunter Library with their Special Collections, under George Frizzell and Jason Brady, I spent the greatest two months of my life. I reconnected with my desire to help people as I saw George working with community members, city officials, museums and local libraries and students, answering their questions and learning about the history of the surrounding area. It was like finding my home away from home. Then, much to my dismay, I graduated from undergraduate school with my two new shiny B.S. degrees and no job. I didn't want to leave the area so I applied pretty much everywhere. Then I stumbled across a Circulation Assistant position in Cashiers, North Carolina (pronounced CASHers, ignore the I) under the wise leadership of Serenity Richards. I applied for the position -- I misspelled the library name in my cover letter but Serenity saw past it and hired me. It was only supposed to be a temporary position, for the seasonal population of snowbirds from farther south descend upon the mountains of western North Carolina like flies to honey. Fortunately, the stars aligned and I ended up being moved into a permanent position. Working in a public library, even Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library (yes, I can spell it correctly now), was terrifying and I had to come out of my shell. I had another reconnection with my true purpose in life which is to help people. I was absolutely horrible at suggesting what people should read or watch as I'm not a big fan of murder mystery books but I learned, slowly, but I did learn! It was a wonderful two and half years, forming relationships with our library team and my boss, and then I decided that I wanted to return to school to get my Masters in History and another in Library and Information Studies so I could become the next George Frizzell. WHY NOT STICK WITH PUBLIC LIBRARIES?A question that rolls around in my mind from time to time is why didn't I just stay with ACCCL? It is an awesome public library with great coworkers who I consider family and a patron base that I connected with and I was finding creative outlets through programming and even working with children (who terrify me more than adults do....seriously, having a conversation with a four year old is impossible for me). It was an ideal set up but I felt like it wasn't what I was truly meant to do professionally. I grew up in higher education with my father working at Wake Forest University for 28 years before retiring and my youth was spent in the vast stacks of Z. Smith Reynolds Library. I knew the higher education system, having worked at Wake for close to 7 years myself, bouncing between various departments. I knew I could make more of difference in higher education and provide more help there than I can in public libraries. I still love public libraries but try as I might, I just don't love James Patterson's work and I would be spending the majority of my time trying to convince people that there are other genres and works of fiction out there! WHAT NEXT? So here I am, after much bouncing around from different jobs and now starting a new position at Brevard College as their Night Manager for J.A. Jones Library and attending UNC-G's distance learning program for my MLIS. The journey will be long and there will be times when I will think back longingly for days without readings and paper assignments but the end result will be worth it as I have the end goal of being a Special Collections director and this is step one.
Bring it on!
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AuthorA public and academic librarian shares her views, thoughts, and tales of being a budding librarian in the 21st century Archives
November 2017
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