Dot to Dot

In January, I had a high school student shadow me at the library for two weeks. Her school had career investigation weeks for juniors and seniors. They were to spend time on the job in a career they were interested in.

I asked her what her interest was in the library field when she first arrived, wanting to arrange for experiences in other departments, if that was what she wished. “Children,” she said. “And, um, I’m going to major in Interior Design. Ah, well, libraries are sort of my back-up plan.”

I managed not to snort in her face, but did tell her that many people came to libraries as a back-up career. I arranged for her to spend time in children’s, and they let her plan and present a storytime. Her cheerfulness and enthusiasm were a hit with both the children and librarians.

Then, lo and behold, the second floor had some “spruce-up” money for the teen area. I asked her to look at the area, select items from various catalogs popular with teens, choose a color scheme and provide paint chips. She prepared a proposal and presentation board, and we met with the teen librarian the last day of her shadowing. Again, she was a hit.

Graduation came and went and I was proud to see her walk across the stage. She had been accepted to an out-of-state college with a good interior design program, and was excited about starting her new life.

Then yesterday, I saw a teacher of hers. She asked, “Have you heard about your student shadow? Her father has lost his job, and she can’t afford to go away to school. She’s going to be here at the satellite university for next year.”

I called her. She likes her parents and shows a mature understanding of the situation. She is also a sweet girl and is making the best of a disappointing situation.

“Did you know they have interior design at the local tech school?” I asked her. “A friend of mine took a design theory class last semester and said it was awesome. I’ll bet you could take at least one class a semester there while you’re getting your other requirements out of the way.”

“Really?" She was surprised to hear from me, but not as interested as I had expected. "Well, you know, I've been doing some thinking. I'm kind of wondering…..about library programs now."

"Really?" My turn to be surprised. I didn't laugh, I promise. "Would you like me to give you some information on that? I just happen to have some right here."

She laughed. "Could you? That would be great!"

Sometimes this job is digging and searching, leaving no stone unturned. Today, it was just connecting the dots.

Comments

[feelgoodlibrarian]

Took a little family time last week with the holiday.

FGL

[Sarah Louise]

Thanks for your blog--whenever I feel like geesh, I want to trash this job, your perkiness bleeds through.