I Am A Librarian...Almost
About a year ago I completed an online survey that asked for my thoughts on becoming a librarian, why I chose to become one, and what images or impressions I had of librarians in general. As I was mid-way through getting my Masters of Library Science degree at the time, I had a lot of interest in the survey and the issues it raised.
So that's how I came to meet Cynthia Wilson yesterday--a blistering hot day--at the Liberty Memorial in downtown Kansas City. Wilson is the photographer/librarian who conceived the I Am A Librarian book and web page project.
The enterprise began as a final project for one of her Library Science courses. But as it grew in size and scope, its proportions outgrew what was acceptable for a traditional graduate school assignment. Since that time, you might say it has taken on a life of its own.
The goal, at least on paper, is simple: to tell, in words and pictures, who librarians are today. Wilson announced the project online in March 2004, and with help from some media coverage, received approximately 200 surveys before the cut off date the following March.
Currently she has taken photographs of 90 or so librarians. Some of her Librarian work exhibited at the University of West Florida last April, to commemorate National Library Week, and received an enthusiastic response.
But for the past 10 days Wilson has been on the road, armed only with a couple of cameras, a healthy supply of bottled water, and a list of librarians who wished to have their image captured in her lens. She told me how pleased she was with the participation of the librarians, saying "the project would be nothing without them." The details of her most recent road trip--from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and back--are generously decribed on her blog.
No word yet on when the book will be published, but I certainly will post the information as it becomes available.
In the meantime, please visit her web site, where some of Wilson's handsome Librarian photographs are displayed.
(As for the "Almost" in this blog entry title: I graduate in three weeks with my MLS from Emporia State University.)
So that's how I came to meet Cynthia Wilson yesterday--a blistering hot day--at the Liberty Memorial in downtown Kansas City. Wilson is the photographer/librarian who conceived the I Am A Librarian book and web page project.
The enterprise began as a final project for one of her Library Science courses. But as it grew in size and scope, its proportions outgrew what was acceptable for a traditional graduate school assignment. Since that time, you might say it has taken on a life of its own.
The goal, at least on paper, is simple: to tell, in words and pictures, who librarians are today. Wilson announced the project online in March 2004, and with help from some media coverage, received approximately 200 surveys before the cut off date the following March.
Currently she has taken photographs of 90 or so librarians. Some of her Librarian work exhibited at the University of West Florida last April, to commemorate National Library Week, and received an enthusiastic response.
But for the past 10 days Wilson has been on the road, armed only with a couple of cameras, a healthy supply of bottled water, and a list of librarians who wished to have their image captured in her lens. She told me how pleased she was with the participation of the librarians, saying "the project would be nothing without them." The details of her most recent road trip--from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and back--are generously decribed on her blog.
No word yet on when the book will be published, but I certainly will post the information as it becomes available.
In the meantime, please visit her web site, where some of Wilson's handsome Librarian photographs are displayed.
(As for the "Almost" in this blog entry title: I graduate in three weeks with my MLS from Emporia State University.)
posted by Ray at 9:22 AM
1 Comments:
Wow, that's amazing, wonderful, fan-freaking-tastic, and pretty damn cool. Please keep us informed. I love it when books contain, or are written by, people I know (yeah, it sounds silly, but it's so so true--I don't think I can actually be objective if I know the author, hence one of the many reasons I never became a best-selling critic).
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