Thoughts on Emporia
When I was a student at Southwestern College, I worked at what was then called Memorial Library. The three ladies I worked for gave me projects ranging from shifting and shelving books to assisting with community assessment to collection development. Two of these ladies were working on their MLS at Emporia. Stacey, the assistant director, and I got along very well and we soon developed the inside joke that I wanted to be just like Stacey when I grow up.
I graduated from SC in 2005 and quickly became bored without school. I missed the research and the writing. I missed being in a library all the time. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to attend ESU’s Denver campus and work on becoming Stacey. I hardly considered any other program. ESU’s combination of the face-to-face classes in Denver and the online element fit what I needed to be successful.
After the orientation in January 2007, one of the alum had dinner with some of my classmates and me. She asked each of us how it felt to be in the program. I told her it felt completely natural. Inwardly, I was thrilled at the prospect of being in a library again. Working in a library was the only thing I could see myself doing for more than a few years. I could see myself in the library setting with various roles for the rest of my life. It’s a peaceful feeling.
I tend to shy away from expectations because they always lead to disappointment. That didn’t prevent me from developing expectations about Emporia. I expected my ideas to be challenged and changed. I expected to struggle with the coursework. I expected to work from the ground up, from theory to application, from the minute details of MARC to the big picture of the library’s place in a community. Emporia starts with the theory of libraries, an important step to understand why we do what we do. Instead of wandering around with our eyes closed, bumping into the shelves, theory shows us why things are they are. Theory also shows us that we don’t know everything yet and libraries are forever transforming.
The application classes focused on what the library world is like right now. We work with technology to invite patrons into the library, whether it be into the physical building or the virtual library and the databases. We can’t limit ourselves to one library or the other. Libraries are the source of information resources and if librarians can’t give their patrons even a cursory introduction to new technologies, be it the switch from VHS to DVD or the advent of open source programs, we are doing everyone a disservice. Emporia helped stretch my technology and teaching skills that I might be a better librarian for patrons of all ages.
In the past two years, I’ve been stressed due to the inevitable ambiguity. For the first time in my life, school has challenged me. Every single class has challenged me. I couldn’t float through this program. It’s a tough program. I’ve pushed myself to do better than the minimum when I was too tired. I haven’t had time to read a book for fun. I miss nonconstructive, unscheduled free time.
But in May, I will have finished this program. I will have a Masters degree. I will be a librarian.
It’s worth it.