Growing up I had very little idea of what I wanted to 'be' when I grew up. Right up to Leaving Cert I had no clue. I studied Computer Science, Linguistics and German, simply because I loved languages and everyone told me I'd get a great job with Computer Science. By the time I graduated the only thing I was sure about was that I didn't want to work in the computer industry, but I still didn't know what I actually did want to do.
My very clever mother suggested applying for a graduate trainee position with TCD Library. I was persuaded by the attraction of being surrounded by books, staying within TCD where I'd been so happy for the previous 4 years, earning a bit of money, while hopefully ruling a future career option in or out. Within a few days of starting in the Dublin Dental Hospital Library I knew I'd found my place in life!
The pleasure I got from putting things in order, organising information, linking people to the information they needed, record keeping, the balance between social contact with the students and academics and quiet, solitary work - librarianship was the career for me!
I had had some previous experience of the difference between studying something I loved (linguistics) vs studying something I tolerated (computer science), but my year in what was then DepLIS (Dept of Library and Information Studies) in UCD really showed me how much more pleasure and success there is in studying a field you`re passionate about. I loved every minute of my MLIS year. Every book or article I read made me more sure that I had found my niche in life.
If I were to pick one concept from my MLIS year that has stuck with me and remained relevant for more than 20 years of librarianship it would be the idea of increasing levels of organisation facilitating the conversion of data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. There are many images out there depicting this, but this from David McCandle's Information is Beautiful blog is my favourite.
What a great honour it is to have skills and ability to organise information in such a way that people can develop knowledge and ultimately wisdom!
