SLIS Student News

(l-r: Jennifer Daugherty, Lori Acton - Director, Peggy Stanifer - Assistant Director, and Lisa Mynatt - Circulation Supervisor

SLIS alumna, Jennifer Daugherty (MLS'07), is employed at Laurel County Public Library in London, KY, which serves a user population of about 57,000. Jennifer is the Director of Reference and Information Services. In an email interview Jennifer highlighted her job duties and offered tips for current students.

What are your key job duties?
“I supervise the reference staff and the ILL manager. In addition, I am responsible for collection development of reference, westerns, romances, science fiction/fantasy, and genealogy collections. Since coming to the library, I have worked to expand the Genealogy and Local History collection and have translated this into a Digital project. We have digitized the yearbooks of a local 2 year college that closed its doors several years ago. We are also digitizing several yearbooks from historic community high schools that closed their doors to make way for the central county high school system. My job is unique in that I also serve as the reference librarian for the local community college campus. They have a partnership with our library for us to provide services and instruction to their students. So, I am a public as well as an academic librarian. I also manage the electronic services at the library including database subscriptions, downloadable media, and computer class instruction.”

What do you like most about your job?
“I like that my director is open to new ideas. The library had never done any kind of digital project before I came and she was open to us trying it out. I also enjoy genealogy and I get to my share my passion for research with my patrons. A major plus is that I have been able to attend the last two ALA conferences with other library staff. These conferences are very beneficial and not only help us grow as professionals, but also as a library team.”

Do you have any advice for students?
“I would advise current students to get as much experience as they can while they are in school. I think the libraries at IU are very eager to hire library students, even if they may not have that much experience. When I first came to SLIS, I had never worked in a library. I was able to find several positions that allowed me to work in different aspects of library service. I think that this has helped me become a better, more well-rounded, librarian.

Try different aspects of library work. You might end up doing something you never thought would interest you. You also might find out early on what you don’t want to do.”

Posted Nov. 3, 2009