Contribute to the cultural, economic, educational and social well-being of our communities.

It may seem like a cliché, but I do feel as if working toward my MLIS has been a journey.  Looking back on my attitudes and experiences, I think that I may have wanted to be a librarian for some time, whether I knew it or not.  I have always been service oriented: I really enjoy helping people and making them feel welcomed and comfortable, no matter where they are.  I love learning and exchanging knowledge with others.  After I graduated high school, I went to community college and began working in a café, which I found to be incredibly enjoyable.  I could meet new people and interact with them while providing them with food and drink to nourish them and make them happy.

After that I began working in a now-defunct corporate bookstore, which I really loved.  I worked there for many years, perfectly content and convinced that I could make it my career.  I started working more and going to school less, and eventually was promoted to a full time management position.  There was a good enough mix of tasks that I would never get bored: handyman, investigator, researcher, problem solver, manager, trainer, salesman, designer, the list goes on and on.  I had always loved to read, but working in the bookstore gave me a passion for books and sharing my favorites with others whether they were coworkers or customers.  I read Publisher’s Weekly and other publications so I could keep up with new releases and have books to recommend to customers, which I recognize now as providing readers’ advisory services.

As much as I loved working at the bookstore, my career prospects ended when the company declared bankruptcy and closed all of its stores.  Seeing this as an opportunity to pursue another interest—this time it was cooking—I was hired as a part of the management team for a store that sells cookware, tools, and other supplies to people who are passionate about cooking.  Once again, I found myself falling in love with learning about new products and using this knowledge to help others achieve their culinary goals.  I built relationships with our customers and provided service that went beyond cycling through a line at an information desk.  I had conversations with them and learned how to ask questions that would lead to them getting exactly what they needed.  These conversations were not unlike the kind I might ask in a reference interview.

From this job, I also learned about planning, project management, and budgeting.  I was heavily involved in all aspects of running the store from hiring to scheduling, visual merchandising, shipping and receiving, and even teaching classes for both employees and customers.  I had known it from previous jobs but the idea that the more I knew how to do, the more valuable a part of my organization I became was really driven home here.  As with my bookstore job, I thought that I had found a company that I could have a career with.  This changed after working a few Christmas seasons in one of the busiest malls in the Bay Area.  Exhausted all the time and missing spending the holidays with my family, I decided to go back to school.

I had always had an unfulfilled desire to finish my undergraduate coursework in art history, and remembered that someone once suggested that I become a librarian.  Not knowing much about librarianship, I decided to do some research and the more I learned, the more I wanted to become a librarian.  But how would that fit in with the art history work I so badly wanted to do?  I dug deeper and found many options for librarians with art history backgrounds.  Armed with this knowledge and a resolve to not let anything distract me this time, I applied to San Jose State and began my career reboot.

In each job I have had, I have adapted my prior skills and experiences to my new environment and I plan to continue doing this in my information science career as well.  Throughout this portfolio, I have drawn parallels between my experiences in other fields and what I have learned while pursuing my MLIS.  My love of helping others will allow me to contribute to the cultural, economic, educational, and social well-being of my community through my knowledge and implementation of service and management procedures.