Erica Leslie Weidner, MSLIS student at the School of Information, Pratt Institute, New York City
What inspired you to study in an LIS program?
I wanted to be a librarian because I wanted help people. I’m not cut out for nursing, and I’m done doing food service (hopefully!), so being a librarian seemed like a great way to help folks out. I also knew I couldn’t do a job where I had to sell something (my least favorite part of food service was charging people for their dinner).
What part(s) of your program are you enjoying/have you enjoyed?
Oddly enough, I’ve most enjoyed the classes I’ve taken on a whim that have tenuous connections with my current career path. My favorite courses have been Literature & Literacy for Teens and Rare Books & Special Collections. I don’t terribly want to be a YA librarian or a rare book librarian, but the classes were so interesting and opened my eyes to elements of the literary world that I didn’t know existed.
What are you most proud of?
I’ve worked in a public library, I’ve worked in an academic library, and I’ve worked in a corporate library. I am proud to be a well-rounded librarian.
What are you most looking forward to in your future career?
Honestly? Looking forward to having a full-time job with benefits. I’ve come straight from my undergraduate degree into my MSLIS, and while I’ve had a job or two at all points in between, I’m looking forward to joining the professional workforce.
What’s something you’ve read recently that you’ve enjoyed?
I think about the blog post Mothering While Brown in White Spaces, Or, When I Took My Son to Octavia Butler’s Exhibit by Cecilia Caballero all the time. I read it for class and it’s really stuck with me. For fun, though, I’m currently reading House of Leaves and I’m obsessed with it.