Alumni Interview: Carrie

This week's alumni interview is with Carrie Moran. Carrie received her BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in May, 2007. She started taking classes at Drexel in March, 2010 and received her MLIS with a concentration in Digital Libraries in June, 2011. During her time at Drexel, she worked as a Crisis Specialist for a domestic violence resource center. She did a short internship at Towson University, creating digital records for archival material between her graduation in June, 2011 and starting her current job in September, 2011. She is a member of ALA, ACRL, and the North Carolina Library Association. 

What is your current job? Instruction/Reference Librarian at Cleveland Community College in Shelby, North Carolina.

How did you find your job? I found my job using the great website/Twitter/Facebook feed I Need a Library Job.

What does your typical day look like? Is this what you expected when you took the job? There is no such thing as a typical day for me! I usually spend a least a few hours each day at the reference desk answering student questions. The rest of my day I'm either helping at the Circulation Desk, teaching one shot classes in the Library or in a classroom, or working in my office on projects like maintaining our website, making tutorials, or doing committee work. 

What do you enjoy most about your job? My favorite thing about my job is the variety. Each day I'm doing something different so I don't feel bored or stuck in a rut. 

What are some of the common misconceptions about your job/your area of librarianship? I'm working in a community college, and I think there's a perception out there that community colleges aren't as difficult as four year institutions. I have helped students with a variety of assignments and I can verify that their classes and assignments are just as challenging as they are in any other higher education institution. 

What was the most valuable thing that you did or learned while in library school? the most valuable thing that I learned in library school was how to keep abreast of new technologies and to not be afraid to try new things.

What inspired you to choose this career? I'm the daughter of a librarian and I have a BA in Psychology. I took a few years off after my undergraduate work to figure out what I really liked to do. I realized that my favorite part of my undergraduate experience was the hunt for information. That paired with my love of reading and computers helped me decide to pursue a career as a librarian. 

What do you wish you had learned more about? I wish I'd learned more about instruction. It wasn't something I really thought much about and now I've taught over 60 classes since I started in September.I had to do a lot of reading on instruction and instructional tools to feel comfortable. 

Any tips for current students? My number one suggestion is to create a chart with all of your due dates. I think this is especially important for online students because we may have multiple things due each week. During my time at Drexel I had three classes at a time and each one usually required 2-3 discussion board posts plus some other assignment each week and it was easy to lose track of what I'd done and still needed to do.