I would like to take some time and tell you a little bit about myself. That's me right up there, and to be honest, a little bit of history never hurt anyone.
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979. I lived in a small suburb, Needham, until 1992, when my Dad got a job in Western New York. He worked at Saint Bonaventure University, which is a small private Catholic college. I spent my high school years in Western NY, which tended to be really beautiful in the fall, but was really boring aside from that.
After I graduated from High School with a Regents Diploma, I headed to Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh to major in History. Whilst an undergrad at Pitt I got a student worker job at Hillman Library. I fell in love with the library, and worked there until I graduated in 2002. I know it may seem silly, but there's something tranquil about working at a library. The funny thing is, beneath it all, nothing in the library is actually tranquil.
During my senior year at Pitt, I met my husband, Aaron.
Needles to say, Aaron changed my life. When we met I knew it had to be him, since we were both from New England. We were strangers in a strange n'at land. What's n'at, you ask? Pittsburghese for "and that." If you ever meet Aaron, you'll have to ask him to do his wicked impression of Pittsburghese, it's hilarious. Obviously there's more to why I married him than just our place of birth, but I always thought it ironic that I met and fell in love with a Mainer. Click on his picture, and listen to some of his music. My favorite right now is "Victims."
I decided to stay in Pittsburgh in order to continue our relationship after college. I got a job working in a mortgaging company, doing post closing work for several big named loan companies. Soon I realized that I missed learning, and school in general. I applied to, and was accepted into, the graduate library program at the University of Pittsburgh. Aaron and I got married in September of 2004.
I finished my masters in December of 2005. In the mean time I had gotten a job in the tech services side of the University Library System. I loved it there, and miss it to this day. It's rare to work with so many wonderful people as I did when I worked at Thomas Boulevard.
For my final semester in grad school, I was able to take an internship at the Bevier Engineering Library at Pitt. Here I got to work with several wonderful librarians involved in reference as well as instruction. They taught me how to be a good librarian. I felt true and honest personal growth while I worked at the Engineering Library.
During my internship I did all sorts of interesting things; the most interesting being instruction of incoming engineering freshmen. The librarians worked together with engineering faculty and Pitt's writing center to create library related assignments. We would go into lecture halls and introduce different library concepts that would help them complete their assignments. This sort of working relationship is something I look forward to in my career as a librarian.
Once my degree was completed, I applied to Northeastern State University for the position of Resource Coordinator and Instruction Librarian. I was hired in September of 2006, and started on the second day of October.
Since I've been here in Oklahoma I've become involved with several Oklahoma library groups- including COIL and OKACRL. I am very interested in instruction, as well as the future of reference in the virtual world.
I am interested in chat reference, which is virtual reference via online media like Meebo. Using this application I am able to talk to students via my web pages, as well as through services such as AIM, Yahoo!, and MSN. I hope to make this service more visible in the future, and make it a integral part of NSU's reference services.
At NSU I am also heavily involved in our CLIP program. CLIP is a collection of library tutorials that we would like to see shared throughout the state of Oklahoma, and possibly the nation.
Other than the library, I'm interested in lots of things. I love animals, and my husband and I have three pets. We have two cats, Donovan and Cali, and a dog, Cobbosseecontee (Cobbossee for short). Donovan is the perfect cat, he's very personable. Cali, on the other hand is demon spawn. Cobbossee is just a baby, but loves to play Frisbee! Here are Cobbossee, Donovan, and Cali (doesn't she look positively evil?):
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I love to knit, but since I've been in Oklahoma, I haven't found anyone to knit with. A good friend at Pitt used to be my knitting guru, and I sorely miss her. I'm hoping to find some people my age who might be able to give me some pointers, as I'm still new at it.
If you have any questions, or would like to make an appointment, please feel free to contact me. I am very open to discussion about the library, and am interested in helping all those who are in need of research aid.
And, lastly, this is for my Dad:
Emily Brown
Instructor of Library Services
Northeastern State University
Tahlequah, OK 74464
918.444.3298