though, was encouragement from Thompson, who said that though
she was not a good fit this time around, she should continue her efforts
to find employment in a library. A few months later Olson-Ferrell’s
patience and persistence paid off and she landed a job at Augustana’s
library as the acquisitions library assistant. “And that,” she smiled “was
the beginning of everything.”
She was there about nine months. “It was great. I loved it.” She
worked closely with both the assistant director and Thompson, and
came to view Thompson as a mentor. “She’s really informed about a lot
of things and she was a really good teacher. … It felt like I was learning
a lot. … I was very sad to leave Augie.”
She left, for a job as a library assistant at the Yankton Public Library,
which is where she found her calling. “I did a lot of marketing, a lot
of cataloging, a lot of technical services, and then I decided I really do
want to do this and so I started looking at masters programs.”
Olson-Ferrell got her degree online from the University of Alabama,
working all the while, and taking a job at USD’s library. After three
years — and a whole lot of hard work — she had her masters and soon
after, her first librarian position as the digital access manager at the
USD library. But, when the library directorship came open in Yankton,
she realized that she had come to miss how, in her opinion, public
libraries directly affect the lives of many people in the community, not
just the students. “I really missed how you just help so many people
here. It can be draining because it’s an emotional labor, but it’s really
rewarding.” Working in a public library is often compared to being a
bartender or a social worker, she explained, because you get to know
the clients’ personal lives.
She concludes, working in a public library really is a radical thing.
“Libraries are very unique institutions because they are open to
everyone. And that is one of the great tenets of libraries — in addition
to being actually great it is one of the higher tenets. I personally think
that imbues everything with a sense of social justice, but that’s also my
personal lens. Other people might not come to it looking at it that way,
but I think that is a really radical notion in today’s society: We are open
to everybody, no purchase required, no qualifications required, you
can be as rich as they come or as poor as they come and we will serve
you the same — theoretically — people are human and that doesn’t
always happen, but that is the goal.”
vBy Cora Van Olson
F OR
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