Introducing Me!

 

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Hello everyone!

My name is Spencer Pease. I live in Wilmette, IL with my parents and dog Mac, and I work in membership services with the Highland Park Public Library. I received my BA in political science with a minor in history from Lake Forest College in 2021, and I've been part of the MLIS program at DU since May 2022. This will be my final semester, with me being due to meet all requirements by August.

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My career in library science goes back as far as high school, when I worked as a part-time page at the Lake Forest Library from 2015 through 2017. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by libraries, finding them to be places where I could just escape from the rest of the world and do things from reading a book or some other form of literature to doing schoolwork in a quiet space. It’s that fascination which led to that position being the first job I ever had.

As time passed, I found myself growing more and more interested in not just libraries themselves, but the different types of work librarians do and how they contribute to their communities. Even after I had to leave my page job for college, I never lost that interest and would visit a host of libraries regularly for both schoolwork and just to simply get away from everything else. My parents believed going into librarianship would be a perfect career for me, and after much contemplation I agreed it was the wisest thing I could do, applying for the MLIS program at DU in early 2022.

I don’t really know what area specifically I’d like to go into as a career once I receive my degree. Certainly, I could find a more suitable position within a public library, or maybe I can do something in an academic setting like a public school or university. One thing I’ve especially thought about is working in a special setting like a museum, as I had majored in history and once interned with the Chicago History Museum. For now, however, I still have much to think about going forward.

I also have plenty of interests outside the library. My favorite genre is science fiction, being particularly fond of the Star Wars expanded universe. I love playing video games, being outside, and hanging out with my friends. One of my favorite things to do with them is going to see movies, especially Marvel movies!

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I must say that if I were taking this course in, say, my second semester, I would have been fairly nervous about it, given that I haven’t really had much technological experience within the library field outside of, of course, this program. My current role at Highland Park Library doesn’t involve much of that, as I work mostly in circulation and arranging materials. I have, however, learned much in the past year and am now more confident in my tech knowledge and skills than I was before, so I’d say my present feelings going into this course amount to “so-so.”

Credit GIF