The mission of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library is to help our students, faculty, and staff succeed. We do this by providing unparalleled service in managing, delivering and teaching the use of scholarly content and information technology. As an employee of Z. Smith Reynolds Library for the past thirteen years, I've had the opportunity to help the Library achieve this mission while learning about a wide variety of careers available in academic libraries.

For the past three years I've been the Manager of Technology Training for the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, prior to that I was the Information Technology Center Coordinator for five years and prior to that, an ITC Specialist.  Each of these positions gave me an opportunity to learn more about technology and training in an academic environment. Additionally after thirteen years in an academic library, I've had the opportunity to learn where my strengths lie and what elements of librarianship appeal to me.

Leading instruction is a role I enjoy. Teaching students, faculty, and staff how to use technology to facilitate learning is something I find very rewarding. My outgoing personality means I enjoy giving presentation and working in front of large groups. As such I will look for careers in librarianship that will allow me to teach. My technology background may lead me toward careers in technology instruction, my undergraduate liberal arts background in English and Art may lead me toward more traditional reference work and my MBA may lead me toward a business reference librarian position. What any of these potential fields have in common is instruction and working with patrons.

Ideally, my five-year career plan finds me initially focusing on my current position at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library which has recently been re-written to include bibliographic instruction and department liaison duties along with technology training. In the next two to four years I would like take the skills I've learned doing bibliographic instruction and look at what career opportunities are available to me based on this updated skill set. In the next five years I would like to find a management position in an academic library that allows me to manage not only project as I do now, but also manage staff.

In preparation for this career plan, I have already presented at several national conferences includin ALA, Computers in Libraries and the TechSource Gaming Symposium. I plan to continue submitting proposals at national and regional conferences that are based on projects and programs I implement in my current position. Finally, I would like to serve on a regional then national committee as a venue for participating as fully as possible in the profession.