Mentors

I stopped at the public library in my hometown yesterday to say hello to one of my mentors for about as long as I can remember.  I think I’ve shared this story before, but my mom took us to the library regularly and by the age of seven I asked when I was allowed to start working there.  My mom (probably at a loss for words) told me to ask the librarians.  The answer, “14 years old.” An eternity to a seven year old, but I waited patiently.  At age 14, I went to the library and started volunteering, the following year I was getting paid as a student page. My hometown library staff (at the time) was 4 full-time people and me – and I learned a lot! Circulation, paging, reference, cataloging – you name it.

And through it all was the children’s librarian who shared her passion for her work, she allowed me to help with children’s programming, I learned that cutting out craft supplies can be tedious (I remember vividly these tiny little leprechauns for St. Patrick’s Day) and that the most important part of any job is to love what you do.

I can honestly say, that most days I enjoy going to work, I love serving my community, learning new things and working with an amazing group of people that make my job easy.  And it was great to come back to my first library.