Adventures of an MLIS student: You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

Title curtousey of The Talking Heads.

Even though I am in library school, I am already working as a librarian. The story of how I got to this position is kind of interesting.

I originally started school with plans to become a mechanical engineer like my father. I am a geek in all ways, and I love math and science. I didn't do well with college though, and ended up leaving my first college after 1 semester. I transferred from a school called Aquinas, and moved to University of Illinois at Chicago where I studied and lived with a high school friend. That didn't work much better, and at 19-20 I left college, ran off to Canada, and got married.

I tried going back to college a few times, unsuccessfully. I changed majors about 5 times from engineering, to business, to interior design, back to business, then to general studies. And while I was in my early 20's, and living in Canada, I had no opportunity to get a job (since I was on a student visa I could only work on campus). So, to pass my time I decided to visit the library. One thing lead to another, I honestly can't remember how this happened, but I ended up volunteering at the library. I was so happy shelving books, and it just made sense to me. It felt like home. I did so well with my volunteering that they let me start running some small craft programs in the Children's Department. At that point I realized what I wanted to do with my life.

Once my (now) ex-husband and I moved back to the US I started looking for a job at a library. I applied at one local library and was told they weren't interested in helping me find out if I wanted to be a librarian. One library wasn't even willing to take me as a volunteer. And actually, I was turned down for the first job I applied for at the library where I am currently employed. I originally applied to work in the Adult Department, but they hired someone else. The head librarian liked me though, and figured I would work well in an opening that they had in the Junior Department, so she sent my application up to my boss.

I didn't know this until this year, but my boss had already picked someone else to hire, but she figured she'd let me interview anyways. Once I came in though, she said that I made her change her mind about the other woman who'd applied, and I got the job!

I honestly love what I do. This job has inspired me to go back to school. I had to get my bachelor's degree before I could work towards my MLIS. So, that's what I've worked on for the past four years. And now, here I am, working for my MLIS.