ALA'S DISCOVERING LIBRARIANSHIP

The American Library Association and the Institute of Museum and Library Services are starting a program called "Discovering Librarianship" whose sole purpose is to get young people (especially minorities) interested in becoming librarians.

You have to apply for these volunteer positions, so I thought I would publish what my response is going to be, or more clearly, I thought I would utilize the venue of my blog as a way to work out what exactly I am going to submit with my application.

One of the first things it asks me to do is delineate why I want to become a Discovering Librarianship Volunteer? So I would like to share with you my reasons and if you feel that you can add anything to this, please comment or contact me offline.

I would like to become a Discovering Librarianship Volunteer so that I may continue to engage with young people on the importance of Literacy, and assist ALA and IMLS to recruit outstanding minority students for careers in libraries and museums. I applaud ALA and IMLS recruitment efforts, and welcome the challenge of this national initiative.

I feel a personal debt to ALA, and other minority students. In 2007, I was awarded a Spectrum scholarship to attend Queens College. At the time, I was an English teacher at a high-stakes high school in the Bronx. I did not know then that I was going to combine what I knew about teaching with what I was going to learn about the organization of information. Librarianship came easy because so much of it relies on teaching students and patrons how to delineate, and then locate, their need.

I received my M.L.S. from Queens College in 2009 and had the good fortune of finding work as a facilitator of Information Literacy for Bronx Community College. The Deputy Librarian, LaRoi Lawton, himself a minority librarian, was my direct supervisor and subsequently became my unofficial mentor. Therefore, as you can see, I have been extremely fortunate in terms of mentors and opportunities; I would like to give back by speaking up about the importance of libraries and the vastness of Librarianship.

I would also remind young adults that they are constantly making decisions about what the future truly holds for libraries, whether they like it or not.