I was in year four out of five working on my undergrad. I worked my way through college so I only took 12 hours at a time. That means five years of school! Anyway -- I took an amazing Kansas History class and the professor encouraged me to go to the University Archives and do original research. I had a hard time finding the place because it was built directly behind another building. But I finally found it.
Like many of the buildings on campus -- I was enamored with the beauty. I went inside and it was like I stepped back in time. It is a closed stacks library and security is important. I had conversations with the librarian and staff about what I was looking for and then a student went back in the labyrinth and minutes later magically came forth with my treasures. The process of delicate but exciting.
This video was made while I was attending.
I was gushing about how much I loved being there to my partner and he suggested I should get paid to be there. And I was like, "Holy shit." So I applied and then proceeded to bug the crap out of the student supervisor for an interview. It took like two months. Then I started working there after quitting my job at Starbucks.
It was amazing. I did homework at work, I shelved, I helped with weird projects, I assisted librarians, I ingested weird red dust from probate records from the 1800s, I touched first editions of tons of things and I got to know librarianship.
I think it was around December of 2009 that I decided that I wanted to be a librarian. I was talking to an archivist who was working on her MLS and she was telling me about her projects and I got really excited. I loved the library atmosphere. People were still crazy and conniving at libraries -- just like any other place I had worked. But we were helping people research and find information they needed or wanted. We provided a public service and it was most excellent. I suddenly realized my life could be so much better.
I spent that final year planning my life out for the next three years. Take a year off from school and work a job -- I wanted to work at a not-for-profit -- and then go back to school. I graduated and suddenly reality was kicking my teeth in. I graduated in 2010 -- two years after the meltdown. And KC was not doing well at all. I think I read somewhere that they were one of the worst places to find a job. I believe it. It took my almost a year to find a job and then I was working for the Man at an insurance place. By the time I started there I had already taken the GRE and applied for a school in the area but the classes didn't start till January of 2012.
I suffered through that job -- I gained weight, drank more than I had ever before and I almost ended my 5 year relationship. I wanted to keep the job because it was allowing me to pay cash for grad school but I soon realized that the pain was not worth the money.
I took a menial supervisor position at a grocery store I had worked at in college and suffered through the humbling experience. I eventually got an internship. Then a part time job at library and finally -- three months before getting my MLS -- I was offered a job out of state. I started this past January and it has been amazing.
#cookiegangstalibrarian
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