2005- David Gibbs
Update: I am now Research, Instruction & Collection Development librarian at Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library, specializing in Communications, Journalism, and Film.
I’ve been working as a reference and instruction librarian at College of San Mateo, just south of San Francisco, for almost two years now. Being at a community college has a lot of advantages. I’ve formed close relationships with other faculty and really feel like one of their peers. (I’ve been very involved with learning communities on campus, for example.) And the benefits can’t be beat, especially the 15 weeks or so off a year (though I’ve been working part-time over the summer to keep myself sane). The downside is, I’m spread thin and sometimes feel likethere isn’t enough time to do any one thing well. As only one of two full-time librarians, I do reference, instruction (on campus and online credit classes and orientations), collection development, Web development, database maintenance and vendor relations, interlibrary loan –pretty much everything imaginable except cataloging. I do much more teaching and public speaking than I ever expected (or wanted) to. But overall, this has been a great first library job: intense and full of learning opportunities.
