My interview with success story Reed
Naomi: How did you find your current job?
Reed: I first heard about it from an e-mail sent to the Music Library Association’s listserv. It was posted on INALJ as well.
Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
Reed: My favorite libraries include the Library of Congress (although the procedure to get a reader card there is a hassle), the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the University of Kentucky Fine Arts Library, and the University of North Texas Music Library.
Naomi: Favorite book?
Reed: Oh, I couldn’t POSSIBLY pick just one! A lot of my favorites are part of series, including Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Turtledove’s Southern Victory series, and David Wingrove’s Chung Kuo series. My favorite stand-alone books include Harry Turtledove’s The Guns of the South, Howard Pollack’s biography of Aaron Copland, and Bill Simmons’ Now I Can Die in Peace and The Book of Basketball.
Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/library technology?
Reed: It’s simple, really: libraries disseminate information. Information is a valuable resource, one that we all use to make important decisions in our academic, professional, and personal lives. And libraries are sources of information, are places where we can go to acquire it and learn how to acquire it ourselves. I feel so fortunate to be a part of such an important area of human endeavor.
Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Reed: If you’re interested in the field of music librarianship, you simply MUST join the Music Library Association’s listserv. If you’re a library school student interested in the subject, then check out MLA’s Music Library Student Group.
Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
Reed: When you get an interview, come up in advance with at least three questions to ask the interviewers. Also, if you’re applying for a cataloging job and have cataloging experience, put together a portfolio of your best records to show interviewers.
Reed David, who hails from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania in suburban Pittsburgh, is the new Adjunct Music Catalog Librarian at the University of Montana. He has a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Arts in musicology from the University of Kentucky, and a Master of Science in library and information science from the University of North Texas. Reed’s professional interests include music librarianship, cataloging, music cataloging, Aaron Copland, and big band swing. He is a member of the American Library Association, the Music Library Association, the Society for American Music, and Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity. In his free time, Reed likes to play the clarinet, watch and read science fiction and fantasy (especially Star Trek), and follow Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams as well as the football teams of the colleges he has attended.