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Alumnae
Panel: Why Librarian is Among Best Careers
Being a librarian isn’t
what it used to be.
Four Smith alumnae who
have climbed careers in library professions will return
to their alma mater on Thursday, Oct. 2, to attest that
library work in today’s Information Age, with
countless electronic resources, is different from its past.
The alumnae will comprise
a panel to talk about “Career
Opportunities in Libraries and Archives” at 7 p.m.
in, appropriately, Neilson Library Browsing Room. The event
is sponsored by the Friends of the Smith College Libraries.
Considering a librarian’s
post on the front lines of information exchange and analysis, U.S. News and World
Report rated the job among the Best Careers in 2008. “Forget
about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm,” says
an article in the magazine. “Librarians these days
must be high-tech information sleuths, helping researchers
plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital
records. It’s an underrated career. On top of it all,
librarians’ work hours are reasonable.”
Mary Irwin, gift and development
officer in the Smith libraries and a coordinator of the
event, says library work is very satisfying. “These days you still get to help people
find the information they need,” she said, “you
learn cool stuff in the process and you get paid to explore
the latest in information technology.”
There you have it. Adding their testimony will be:
- Abigail Brigham ’91,
a senior research librarian at CNN in New York City
- Katharine
Chandler ’97,
a rare book librarian at the Philadelphia Free Library.
Chandler worked in Smith’s Josten Library as
a student.
- Elisabeth Doucett ’80,
director of the Curtis Public Library in Brunswick,
Maine, and author of Branding Your Library, a
book published recently by the American Libraries Association.
- Susan von Salis ’79,
archivist at the Harvard Museums in Cambridge, Mass.
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Stacie Hagenbaugh, director of the Career Development Center,
will moderate the alumnae discussion.
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