" Although mesmerized at the age of eight by the photo-charging machine in my local public library, it was not until my early twenties, as a history undergraduate, that I considered a career in library work, my thoughts inspired by the monumentality and grandeur, yet interior intimacy, of the University of London Library. "

Alistair Black

" When I was eight years old, I never missed the bookmobile when it came by our neighborhood. I was a collector of insects, sea shells, postage stamps, books, and all sorts of other things. But reading and writing were the most important means for expanding my world. These experiences led me to value inquiry-based learning. As I pursued my academic career, my interdisciplinary interests led me to earn degrees in biology and computer science; conduct research in a high-tech, R&D firm; teach in a college of education; until I finally landed at GSLIS. As I worked with people in LIS, I found a serious engagement with issues such as the moral and political aspects of texts and information systems, changes to literacy practices related to new technologies and globalization, distributed knowledge making, information for community needs, and new ways of organizing and providing access to information. There are many other reasons I might add for my joining GSLIS per se–the high level of collegiality, the moral commitment, the respect for both the old and the new, and the sincere interest in and openness to continuing to learn. These things make coming to LIS seem wise, in spite of myself and my meandering path. "

Chip Bruce

" I wasn’t always so keen on working in libraries. In fact, during my third year as a student hourly at my college library—after several semesters spent typing up and ironing on spine labels—I was ‘promoted’ to supervisor of the paste machine. Feed a book pocket and a date due slip into the machine and paste them into a book. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Week after week after mind-numbing week. I learned that it isn’t actually possible to die of boredom, but I found myself almost wishing that it were. This changed (finally!) when I took a class in youth services librarianship in the LIS program at UW-Madison. One of the assignments was to spend thirty hours ‘shadowing’ a youth services librarian. My mother was an elementary school librarian, so I decided to spend my spring break week at her library. By the end of that engaging, energizing, and exhilarating week I was convinced that youth librarianship was for me. What incredible relief I felt as I rejoiced: ‘I’ll never be bored again!’ "

Christine Jenkins

" I had recently been told [in 1970] by the librarian at my school that I 'needed to slow down my reading or I would run out of books. Thankfully, my mother took me to the air force base library where I discovered, to my great relief, that my librarian might be mistaken. I decided then that libraries were always going to be part of my life. "

Kathryn La Barre

" What drew me to the field was cursing out the programmers for a major-corporate-entity-that-will-remain-nameless. They implemented a new case tracking system for the legal unit I was working for which was bug free, well-documented, and a complete disaster in actual use because they did not understand the process by which cases were handled or the ways in which information for them got tracked by our unit. In the process of trying to make it more useful, it occurred to me that there was probably a future in jobs that focused not specifically on programming, but on understanding the workflows in organization and forcing software implementers to produce products that were actually designed to operate in the information environments they would be placed. "

Jerome McDonough

" Mrs. Marsec ended the school year with awards for members of her third grade class. I won the best reader award, a worn silver dollar that I treasured. I told my mother I would grow up to be a professional reader. And I did. "

Kate McDowell

" I was drawn in to the study of information at my parents’ dining room table during the mid-1970s. Meals, sometimes lasting long after the food had been consumed, functioned as an intensive seminar, led by my father, a political economist of communication, and my mother, a feminist librarian and researcher. "

Dan Schiller

" I drifted into library school when I was 24 and imagined myself to be a free-spirited hippie/intellectual. I’d worked in libraries since the age of 15, so going back to school in library science seemed like an easy option. I could postpone committing to a career and reside for a couple of years in a great college town (Ann Arbor). I was well into my first semester before I recognized librarianship as my true calling. The thrill I got from answering reference questions as a graduate assistant in the engineering library took me by surprise. I didn’t understand the questions or their relevance, but I had learned the secrets of finding the answers. The work was intellectually stimulating, people-oriented, and university-based—perfect for me, but I couldn’t see that until I actually studied it and did it simultaneously. "

Sue Searing

" During my senior year at Allegheny College (1970-71), where I majored in physics and mathematics, I had the opportunity to spend time each week as a student worker at the circulation desk. At the time I was applying to graduate school—in physics, computer science, and library science. I finally concluded that library science would be the most interesting path for me to follow, anticipating a career as a science librarian. So that is how I had the good fortune to end up as an MS student at Illinois beginning in summer 1971. "

Linda C. Smith

" After seven years of undergraduate and graduate study in philosophy, it became evident that driving a taxi was one of the most available alternatives for the many Ph.D.s in philosophy granted annually in North America who were not successful in obtaining one of the three or four tenure track teaching positions available each year. Since epistemology was one of my interests, becoming a librarian and studying the information access and organization issues in library and information science became an appropriate alternative. Once I became a librarian, I was hooked on providing service and access to information and decided to pursue my Ph.D. in LIS to share my interest with others as a teacher and researcher. "

Terry L. Weech

" My awakening to this wonderful field began with Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt and took a dramatic turn in 1971 when I got our high school computer terminal to read my paper tape. "

Kate Williams