By Kaitlin Carman Asst. News Editor What is your educational and professional background? I grew up in the Dallas-area suburbs. For my undergraduate [degree], I went to a small liberal arts college in North Texas called Austin College - that’s not in Austin. And then I got my graduate degree in library science at the University of North Texas. I'm currently pursuing a film and media studies master’s at Arizona State University online. It is something that I just had a personal interest in, and I thought it would be fun to pursue it academically. I just started that this past year. Arizona State has pretty robust online graduate programs. So far, so good. I have been in libraries for about 17 years. Most of that has been in higher education - at public and private universities and colleges before Framingham State. I lived in Austin for about four years, and I worked at Austin Community College as a librarian. What made you want to venture into the field of library science? During my undergrad, I had an interest in history and I volunteered for an internship at a history museum in town. I gave tours and also created metadata and records for historical photos and those kinds of things. I really liked information and helping people learn about other things and finding information. I also really like books. So libraries kind of seemed like the common marriage there - where I would get to work with books, information, and also be able to help people in their research. What are some challenges that you face in this field? So, I mentioned that I like books, and that is why I got into libraries, but things have definitely, even 20 years ago when I started, moved to a lot of electronic resources. And so some of the challenges, I think, are educating users, patrons, students, about all of the resources available to them. A lot of students think, “You've got the library and you've got books and you've got space to use,” but they do not necessarily think about the many electronic databases that we provide them access to where they can find online articles, electronic books, and a couple of our databases are streaming videos. So I think the challenge, and I think that's always kind of been a challenge for libraries, is promoting ourselves and making sure that people are aware, and in this case here, that students are aware of all the resources and services that we provide. What are some hobbies you enjoy in your free time? I like hiking and I like the outdoors, so being a new transplant to New England, there is a lot to explore. I have been taking advantage of that. There’s tons of state parks and things that we didn’t have in Texas, like apple-picking season and apple cider donuts - that I’ve actually recently taken advantage of this past weekend. The four seasons are definitely new, and being in close proximity to beaches. For us living in Texas, we could go to the Gulf Coast, but it was always a trip to go to the beach. But being here this summer, it was like, ‘Oh, we can just go for the day.’ We would have to plan a vacation around this activity, but it was nice being able to access the beach. What advice would you give to students? Be active, engaged, and involved in your college experience. When I was in college, I was not. And now that I have worked in higher education for many years, I see all these students with interesting interests. There’s tons of campus groups, internships, and activities on campus to participate in. Learn, grow, and figure out where your space is. Because even now, I am like, “Man, I wish I would have taken advantage of those opportunities when I was a student.” That’s the advice I’d give - just to encourage them. Even if it is kind of outside their comfort zone, go participate in things, and you will end up meeting interesting people and maybe learning a little bit about yourself - something you did not know - and getting involved in groups, activities, and causes that you maybe wouldn’t necessarily if you did not take that step. What are some goals you would like to achieve at FSU? Again, kind of going back to working to promote the library and try to get our services and resources out there so that more people know about them and can utilize them. My title is the access services librarian, so I oversee the circulation desk and also the course reserves and Interlibrary Loan. So, just kind of improving student access to those resources and all library resources. My main thing is that I really work to try to eliminate as many barriers as possible, whether that is clicks on the website or just questions you need to ask. Hopefully, we just make it as easy as possible for students and faculty to access the resources that they need - as easy as possible.