Lunch with College Library Librarians Eliot Finkelstein and Pamela O’Donnell!

On Wednesday ALSO hosted Eliot and Pamela from College Library. We began the session by asking them to tell us what they do!

As employees of College Library they are very versatile people. They are both involved in Collection Development, Reference, Instruction, and have a special responsibility. College Library does its own acquisitions and does not use Blackwell’s Collection Manager to select materials. In their words, they do it the “old fashioned” way – which means by paper and by hand. They also teach a variety of different instruction classes in the library covering anything from how to find a book and how to evaluate sources, to subject specific courses requested by professors on the UW campus. They also both staff the reference desk for varying hours. Eliot’s ‘special’ responsibility is collecting and managing the ‘Open Book Café’ where he is able to select popular materials and decorate the area with art among other things. Pamela focuses on marketing for College library which builds on her interests and skills in graphic design – and her general knack for finding effective ways to reach faculty, staff, and students. You know the suggestion board in College Library where they respond to students suggestions…That’s Pamela!

Both Eliot and Pamela stressed how nice it was to be part of a great team at College and it seemed that working with others was really one of the enjoyable points of their jobs. They did indicate that they spent a lot of time working on committees. They also shared that although they enjoy the variety of the challenges that they face in their jobs, that they also sometimes don’t feel as if they can spend as much time on things as they might like to – sounds normal.

Skills they have found useful or think are good to build upon for professional development:

- Database building – Microsoft Access
- How to run an effective meeting
- Managerial skills
- Instruction/Presenting/Public Speaking Skills

In addition to their MLIS degrees Eliot has a Masters in English Education and Pamela has a Masters in Communication Arts.

Once we got through this and picked their brains a little we turned the tables and the attendees (ALSO Members + Jesse – a prospective SLIS student from Oregon…State!) shared a little about their backgrounds and aspirations. Those who did attend please feel free to comment about your experience at the lunch.

We actually kept Eliot and Pamela overtime we had so much to say! I highly encourage those absent this time to attend these in the future…It was a very interesting lunch!

Our next meeting is TBA - but the gaming night is on the horizon so stay tuned for opportunities to get involved and more info in general.