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I "knew" in junior high - but lots of things led up to my knowing...   Neither of 
my parents graduated from high school, but my mother loved to read & my father 
loved crossword puzzles.  My mother made sure her 4 children visited the library on 
a regular basis. We moved to a new small suburban community the summer before I 
started first grade, and the librarian there nominated us as the "Library Family of 
the Year"  or something like that.  We still have the newspaper photo of my mother 
and the 4 of us standing in our front yard.

SO, I grew up in that same library, and started volunteering there in about the 6th 
or 7th grade, with a friend of mine - we did the Saturday storytime.  There were NO 
professional librarians - not even the director.  In the 10th grade the Adult 
"Librarian" asked me to babysit for her boys after school each day - but after just 
a few months of doing that , there was a part-time opening at the library and she 
asked if I wanted it.  I was in heaven!  I mostly shelved, but also worked the 
Circulation Desk (checkins and checkouts), Interlibrary Loan, and  Reference.  That 
summer  (I was 17)  I was given the responsibility of running a part-time summer 
library at one of the public schools as an outreach project between the city & the 
school district.    That's when I really knew what I was meant to do! 

When I graduated from high school, the Friends of the Library group gave me a $150 
scholarship to help.  I returned to that same library as Secretary to the Director 
when I was working on my MLS  - by then the director had an MLS, but nobody else 
did.  Years later, I returned AGAIN to that same library as the Assistant Director 
and had the pleasure of hiring the first Adult Services & Youth Services Librarians 
with MLSs.     But it was then that I discovered that Administration was NOT for me 
- and that led me to get my teacher certification and move into a school library 
position 13 years ago.  Best career move I ever made!

Would love to hear others' stories about how & why they got to where they are!
--
Leah Hawkins, Librarian 
Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD 
West Hurst Elementary 
Hurst, TX 
leahleah@comcast.net 

"It's no use going to school 
unless the library is your final destination." 
Ray Bradbury 


-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@FWCDS.ORG> 

> I'm compiling a list of "ah-ha! moments" for librarians. In other words, when 
> did you first know that you COULD be a librarian? What was the inspiration or 
> the situation that inspired you to investigate (or begin your education to 
> become) a librarian? 
> 
> Was it the love of books? Was it your creativity with books, puppets and 
> children during a summer program that inspired you? Was it someone's comments? 
> 
> My example: 
> 
> I spent the summer of my sophomore year in college as a "summer missionary" for 
> my church. During that unique summer, two friends and I spent time in Missouri 
> working to literally build a new church and create programs for the neighborhood 
> children. We offered daily programs that included reading aloud, singing, 
> games, and puppet shows ---and were invited to even perform at a lake resort 
> that offered children's program doing three shows a day for a week (in 95+ 
> degrees and a small theater box with furry puppets on our arms)...the kids loved 
> it and we were a hit! 
> 
> One day our troupe had the day off and we were shopping in a nearby mall. One 
> of the members stopped by a sports store that was offering a pair of season 
> tickets (for some sporting event) to anyone who could correctly answer 5 
> questions about sports history. Everyone was standing around filling out the 
> forms and my friend said that he wished he knew the answers to the questions 
> because he really wanted the tickets for his father ---immediately, I asked what 
> the rules were and the store manager said we had to complete the questionnaire 
> within 15 minutes (they date / time stamped the forms to determine who answered 
> first---this was LONG before the Internet and computers). 
> 
> I took the form and my friend, and walked to the book store next door. We went 
> straight to the sports books and I found a reference book that contained all of 
> the answers to the questions. We filled out the form and returned within the 15 
> minute time limit. My friend won the tickets! He was elated! The store 
> manager was a bit annoyed and asked how we answered these "really tough" 
> questions within the time limit without insider information. I told him we used 
> the reference books in the book store next door. He replied, "What are you? 
> Some sort of librarian?" 
> 
> What was supposed to be an insult to me was considered "smart thinking" by all 
> my friends who knew that I had done something that no one else thought about--- 
> using the books in the book store. But with the whole summer-filled experience 
> of working with children, creating learning programs, working with parents, 
> other teachers, and providing "reference services", I finally knew what my major 
> should be! 
> 
> How about you? 
> 
> ~Shonda 
> 
> 
> 
> Shonda Brisco, MLIS 
> US / Technology Librarian 
> 4200 Country Day Lane 
> Fort Worth Country Day School 
> Fort Worth, TX 
> 817.732.7718 ext. 339 
> 
> "We can't wait for somebody outside of ourselves to rescue us, because nobody is 
> coming to the rescue..." 
> ~ Ross Todd, Professor 
> School of Communications, Information, and Library Studies, Rutgers University 
> 
> sbrisco@fwcds.org 
> http://www.fwcds.org/campus/libraries/default.asp 
> 
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