I work at a large, bustling branch of the San Diego County Library, in El Cajon, a city about 15 miles east of San Diego. El Cajon is one of the poorer communities in the county, and has experienced a huge influx of Iraqi refugees in recent years. The confluence of different ethnic and socio-economic groups makes it a fascinating place to work. As a reference librarian, I staff both the adult desk and the children's desk, and also do a fair amount of outreach, programming, promotion, and whatever else is necessary. I enjoy using Spanish at work.
My previous experience includes coordinating the home-delivered meal program at Meals on Wheels of San Francisco, a lengthy tenure in personnel at various departments in the City & County of San Francisco, working as a courier, and serving as the head cook at the kosher dining hall at Harvard. In the library world, I was a paid intern at the Oakland Public Library; did an internship and was subsequently hired part-time at the Stanford News Library; worked as an adjunct librarian at several community colleges; and have been with the San Diego County Library almost three years. It feels helpful in this career to have had a variety of experience, both inside libraries and outside of them.
I am a lover of words, whether they're spoken, sung or written. I relax by walking, eating, and cooking, but not in that order. I've played the guitar at the same mediocre level for a long time, ditto for Scrabble.
I look forward to mixing it up with other librarians at the Eureka! Institute and gaining the benefit of the facilitators' and mentors' experience. When you get people together who are passionate about their chosen field, all kinds of ideas blossom. I am also interested in learning about the special challenges of leadership in our profession.