About
A literary blog featuring my thoughts on daily reading, ruminations on literature and other arts, and close readings. The menu should include much experimental/avant-garde literature, a lot of the canon, and an increasing amount of Southern (U.S.) literature.
I am a librarian (Assistant Curator of Special Collections, Duke University) and wildly unpublished fiction writer; sports addict, with particular emphasis on the Celtics, Red Sox, and Nebraska football; and weiner dog aficionado. Born and raised in Nebraska, I lived for six years in Chicago after college and currently reside in Durham, NC with my wife Jaime and cat Malachi. Weiner dog posse to follow when finances/living arrangements allow.
ara13 said
I read a bit of your reviews. I may even tackle Infinite Jest. Let me know if you’d be interested in reviewing Drawers & Booths by Ara 13 and I can send you a copy. Thanks. ara13c@yahoo.com also ara13.com
willhansen2 said
Hi Ara13,
Thanks for taking a look. With the state of my to-be-read shelf, it’d be quite a while (as in, years) before I’d get to it, but it does look interesting. I guess it depends on how much patience you have!
Seth said
Hi, Will? My name is Seth (duh), and I’m also from Nebraska and also love DFW and also interested in going into Library Science–I was wondering if you could do a post about how you arrived at your job, what your education was, any advice you have for someone thinking about going into it, &c?
willhansen2 said
Hi Seth,
It sounds like you might be my doppelganger. Let’s hope we never meet, for both of our sakes.
My painfully obvious advice, if you’re interested in librarianship: get some experience and get your degree. I landed an entry-level job at the Newberry Library in Chicago for four years; halfway through my time there, I went to school for my Master’s in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois (they have a really good distance learning program). The Newberry’s one of the world’s great libraries (no hyperbole necessary); most of my rare-book and archival knowledge came from working there as a circulation assistant (staffing one of the reading rooms, paging books from the stacks, completing photocopy requests, etc.) and reference assistant (working the reference desk and helping with all sorts of collection development and reference projects).
You really need your Master’s in Library Science if you hope to make a living wage in libraries. But you also really need to get some experience to make sure it’s the career you want (and to get into a good library science program); I know I had all sorts of fanciful ideas about what being a librarian would be like when I first thought about it as an undergrad at UNL. It’s a lot tougher now to find an entry level job; depending on what kind of library work you’re interested in, it could be even tougher if you’re in Nebraska, which has fewer college and university libraries than many areas. Volunteering or interning might be an option, if you have the time and commitment.
Good luck to you.
Will