sardonicsmile

a small theme is occurring today, so let me share my story of becoming a librarian with you as well.

after high school, i went straight into uni with the aim of learning as much as possible from a bachelor of arts, with a vague notion of becoming a psychologist. later on i found out how hard it actually is to become a qualified psych, feeling i was falling more and more behind. despite my application to the coursework, by the time i had done what was required of me, i never could manage to do any extra reading or work for the course. anyhow, i just plodded along, just managing with a supplementary exam to get into the fourth year bachelor of psychology, which i am told has now been scrapped at uwa (masters is the minimum for a registered psychologist). despite my medium-ish hecs debt, i got to study philosophy, chinese studies, womens studies and other things that i would never else had the chance to be introduced to, as well as conducting tests on poor unsuspecting children (j/k) and don’t regret doing the course at all.

so graduating with a bpsych, i found myself not really qualified for much. i drifted into a few years of odd jobs: kitchenhand, personal assistant to a smalltime property developer, web designer to a startup company that never really got off the ground. cue general frustration with erratic callbacks with casual work. i did some calculations, and found that having earned enough in my short working life, i could qualify for ausstudy. this set me thinking about what i could possibly change direction to. the great cliche of education passed my mind, but i knew i would have a hard time keeping thirty kids informed, amused, and well behaved at the same time. in the realm of one year graduate diploma courses, librarianship also came up.

knowing i had good organisational skills, an inquisitive mind and was good at nutting out computer and technology related things, i thought it might be the course for me. i also had a friend who completed the course three quarters of the way through, but couldn’t stand it and quit. somehow i was still not dissuaded. it was a bit of a slog for two semesters, especially with no prior library experience, but i made it in the end. i was officially a librarian! as a lifelong lover of libraries, (i don’t think there was any time in my life where i wasn’t an active member of a library) it really has ended up full circle.