Scottie Kapel …Success Story

This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions

All Jobs for INALJ can be found here: http://inalj.com/?p=1441 Updated daily
Naomi House’s interview with success story Scottie, also INALJ’s Oregon Head Editor.

scottie kNaomi:  How did you find your current job?
Scottie:  I ran into a former teacher of mine from high school shortly before I started the last semester of my MLIS program. She mentioned that she had moved to a position in the school’s library, so we exchanged a few emails in the following months, she sharing her vision for the library with me and I sharing links to some resources I had found valuable in my studies with her. When the position opened up in the library, she immediately thought of me, and within a few short weeks, I had completed the interview process.

Naomi:  Favorite library you have been to?
Scottie:  The Thomas J. Carpenter Library at the University of North Florida is my favorite library for a few reasons. It is a fairly new building with lots of bright communal study spaces and also offers plenty of private nooks for those times when you need to study alone. It is where I learned about the many resources libraries offer, had my first experience working with materials from special collections, and fell in love with research.

Naomi:  Favorite book
Scottie:  My favorite book is Moby Dick by Herman Melville, after whom my dog Mel is named. I also adore Cormac McCarthy, specifically his books The Road and Blood Meridian. I can (and have) read any of John Irving’s books over and over again. Ooh, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Clearly it’s too hard for me to pick just one!

Naomi:  Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
Scottie:  My favorite thing about libraries is being in a space that fosters a love for lifelong learning. Reading has always been a huge part of my life and to work in a field that supports and encourages the love of reading is a dream.

Naomi:  Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Scottie:  INALJ.com, of course! The True Adventures of a High School Librarian (educationrejuvenation.blogspot.com), Archipelago (archipelagoblog.blgspot.com), and I really love NARA’s Today’s Document app. Mostly I read food blogs, so I’m not exactly a fount of knowledge on this front.

Naomi:  Best piece of job hunting advice?
Scottie:  Job hunting can be dispiriting at times and can also consume your life, so my main piece of advice is to find something you love to do (whether knitting, running, cooking, whatever) so that when you’re feeling blue you have an outlet. I promise that if you focus on something else for even a fraction of your day, when you return to the hunt you will feel refreshed and more optimistic. Also, coffee…lots of coffee.

I was born and raised in Florida, where I received my BA in English from the University of North Florida. I graduated with my MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh in April 2013 and soon after found a job as a school librarian for the upcoming year. Since my specialization was in archives, preservation, and records management, I am anticipating a steep learning curve come fall, but I am eager to learn the intricacies of school librarianship and look forward to working with the students. I am married with two dogs, Caddy and Mel. In my spare time, I read, do crosswords, run, knit, cook, and occasionally break into spontaneous recitations of lines from my favorite TV show, The Wire. As Omar might say, “Oh, indeed.”