Biblio File: The Inside Story

I love this interview meme that's going around. My interviewer is my friend Jenny from Jr High and High School, who blogs about the stupid amount of running she does, among other things, over at Adventures of Badgergirl.

Why'd you decide to be a librarian?

Well, I was randomly placed in the library for my work study in college. The summer before my junior year, I was working in the archives a little each day, and my supervisor let me answer basic reference questions and do some processing on collections. As I worked there longer, I was given more and more 'real' work to supplement my student grunt labor. Eventually I looked around and realized that I would be perfectly content to be doing this for the next 30-50 years.

You read a lot. Any idea how many books you've read? Either in you life or during the past few years?

I have no idea how many books I've read over my lifetime. Last year, I read 251. In 2007, it was 219. In 2006 it was 211. In 2005 it was 84. In 2004 it was 50. 2004 was also the first year I started keeping track. Guess when I became a public services librarian and reading become much more integral to my job? (I was a cataloger for a math database before that). (Answer: October of 2005).

You travel back in time and sit down and have lunch with your sophomore self. What's the one thing you tell yourself?

I'm assuming you mean high school. That this year and next year (junior year) will be the hardest years of my life, and after that, it just gets better and better and better. I just need to hang in there. Also, to get over myself and stop freaking out about stuff that doesn't matter in the long run. (Actually, I should tell myself that more often now...)

What was the best class you took in college and why?

Dostoevsky, taught by the late, great Prof. Mohan. I loved this class for so many reasons. One of the big ones is that Prof. Mohan was wonderful. He had an amazing way of viewing the world and seeing all the beauty with in it, he said the most hysterical things (I should find my notes from that class, because I wrote them down). Beyond that though, it was a 300-level class with no pre-reqs, so the course number meant it was all juniors and seniors (high level of discussion with no annoying freshmen) but the no pre-reqs meant that it was a really broad cross-section of majors, which lead to great discussion. To top it all off, we only had about 30-50 pages of reading for each class. I had history at 8, but Dostoevsky didn't meet until 10, so I'd walk to the coffee shop, get my coffee, do my reading, get my free refill, and then go to class.

In a fight, who would win? A T-Rex or 10,000 5-year-olds lead by into the fight by a battle-hardened 7-year-old riding a St. Bernard?

The 5 year olds. I think that army could beat anything in the world.


Do you want to play along? Here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.