What do you hate about your job?
Sometimes the public can be really demanding. And as much as I understand the need to close the digital divide, the way that people act about the computers--fighting over them--really discourages me. But, then I'll have a customer who's really appreciative of what I'm doing and it helps give me a little boost.
With people using the internet, how relevant do you think a librarian is or will be in the future?
I was at this bar once, during library school, and a guy found out that we were librarians. He asked me, "Why do we need librarians when we have the internet?" I almost slugged him.
Like what I said before, it's important to know how to verify resources from the internet, and how to correctly search the internet. I help kids all the time who don't know which websites to go to.
There's this whole thing called the invisible web, which you can't get to by searching on Google. The invisible web includes really good resources...like the Internet public library, ipl.org, which I use all the time, and it's a collection of informative websites that you can use for every sort of subject. Also, lots of libraries' websites have resources and links that I use all the time. Libraries are a storehouse of information.
What was high school like? Did you hang out in the library?
That's a funny story actually. My friends and I would go to the library all the time during study hall because we didn't want to sit in the cafeteria and be quiet. I was always getting yelled at for being too loud in the library and I think the librarian kicked me out a couple times.
What did you read when you were 17?
I read a lot of Francesca Lia Block. I also loved F. Scott Fitzgerald, and at the time, one of my favorite books was "A Brave New World." I also really loved "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." It's still one of my favorite books.
I think YA literature is a lot more sophisticated now than it used to be. It's really exciting. Now I'm always reading stuff that 17-year-olds are reading...not just because I have to know what they're reading but because I enjoy it too.
What would you do if you weren't a librarian?
When I was in undergrad, I studied writing and I also did a lot of work with video. I would love to get back to that. I would love to make more movies and make more films.
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