LIT

“If good things lasted forever, would we appreciate how precious they are?”

Calvin & Hobbes

In 2014, I started back in college completing an in-person 2-year Library and Information Technician program at Durham College. I applied because while I had volunteered in my children’s school library for years, I seemed unable to even get an interview for an entry level position at a public library. No matter how I re-wrote my resume, no one would call me.

So, all confident that I knew everything about libraries already, I told myself that I would get this “piece of paper” so that I could find more meaningful work.

I sat down in my first class and looked around at the sea of babies around me (people in their early twenties) while I rocking my very dyed grey hair and I started questioning everything. Why was I here? I already knew so much about libraries. This was an expensive detour to take.

Cue the program coordinator giving me a once over, asking me what I wanted to do in libraries, and shortly after telling me that I my goals were wrong. I had been convinced that I wanted to work on the back-end, cataloguing books. My coordinator calmly explained that I was destined for front-line work, public service work.

I blustered.

I thought I knew myself better than she could.

I was totally wrong.

She saw potential in me that I hadn’t realized could be there. I completed the program on a Friday in April 2026 and started working at my local public library on Monday. In public service, no less.

I loved every second of this program, even when I was stressed and drowning in work. I was surrounded by the best cheerleaders of my life and I still rely on skills I learned in this program today.

Some of the work that I have completed: