Be Like Ruth
I've been applying to jobs and had a few interviews. At my last interview I felt like whatever professional work experience I had going in vanished and just like that, I turned into a nervous, blushing, Indian-giver-of-words. They say failure is the best teacher. They're right.
Meanwhile I've also signed up with the NYPL Donnell Branch as a volunteer. Initially I signed up just to help out with their big survey project (one, to pad the ole' resume, and two, pad my skin with lots of rejection) but the supervising librarian liked me so much that she roped me in for a regular gig at the Information Desk. And so far, it's been good. I genuinely enjoy helping people, especially when I'm not trying to sell anything or calm underpaid, oveworked and overstressed network administrators*.
A woman by the name of Ruth trained me. Ruth has volunteered at Donnell for 15 years, and a better steward for the library I would be hard pressed to find. Aside from being extremely well read, she's a fireball of energy, nimble on her feet and with a wit sharper than most people a quarter her age. She brings the same respect and discipline to her volunteer duties as one normally accords their paying jobs and it shows. Whenever Ruth is on, all the fliers are well stocked, the reference binder updated, the desk organized and neat. Ruth is friendly and personable, preferring to take patrons to wherever it is they need to go herself (instead of just pointing). Ruth is at least trilingual, fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and probably other languages I have yet to learn. Before retiring she lived abroad for 20 years in Brazil, cultivating sustainable crops for a Rockefeller NGO. Did I mention that Ruth is also tech savvy? To this day the only official and non-official map of the library's layout is one that Ruth herself drew on the computer. It came in very handy on my first day.
In a word, Ruth is cool.
*former work life
Meanwhile I've also signed up with the NYPL Donnell Branch as a volunteer. Initially I signed up just to help out with their big survey project (one, to pad the ole' resume, and two, pad my skin with lots of rejection) but the supervising librarian liked me so much that she roped me in for a regular gig at the Information Desk. And so far, it's been good. I genuinely enjoy helping people, especially when I'm not trying to sell anything or calm underpaid, oveworked and overstressed network administrators*.
A woman by the name of Ruth trained me. Ruth has volunteered at Donnell for 15 years, and a better steward for the library I would be hard pressed to find. Aside from being extremely well read, she's a fireball of energy, nimble on her feet and with a wit sharper than most people a quarter her age. She brings the same respect and discipline to her volunteer duties as one normally accords their paying jobs and it shows. Whenever Ruth is on, all the fliers are well stocked, the reference binder updated, the desk organized and neat. Ruth is friendly and personable, preferring to take patrons to wherever it is they need to go herself (instead of just pointing). Ruth is at least trilingual, fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and probably other languages I have yet to learn. Before retiring she lived abroad for 20 years in Brazil, cultivating sustainable crops for a Rockefeller NGO. Did I mention that Ruth is also tech savvy? To this day the only official and non-official map of the library's layout is one that Ruth herself drew on the computer. It came in very handy on my first day.
In a word, Ruth is cool.
*former work life