Amy Louise Ranger
the journey of a librarian
I spent my childhood in rural southwestern Michigan, where I was given
the freedom to observe the natural world, read books, and create works
of art. From the age of seven I was allowed to ride my bicycle to the
town library, where I would check out as many books as I could fit into
my wire basket,
take them home to my tree-fort, and not climb out of the tree until the
books had all been read. My sister was the "athletic child" and I was
the "good student." I read constantly, even
while using a riding lawnmower to mow the lawn, much to my father's
dismay.
My favorite books included biographies of historical figures, and
mystery series such as Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, and
Alfred Hitchcock's The Three Investigators. I began reading Agatha
Christie and Victoria Holt mysteries in junior high school. The world
of fiction was expanded for me after high school, when I served in the
United States Air
Force and discovered the genre of men's
adventure fiction (Robert Ludlum, Ian Fleming, Frederick
Forsyth) in the
base
library at Aviano Air
Base, Italy.
I returned to the Midwest after my service
overseas, and attended college at Ferris State College (now University)
where I studied Graphic Arts and General Printing. Work in the printing
industry took me to Chicago for a few years, and
then I returned to the
bustling metropolis of Kalamazoo, near the community where I was
raised. I worked part-time in a general bookshop in the area, and met
a group of science-fiction fans who pulled me into their orbit. In 1991
I married one of those SF fans, Tullio Proni. I was truly blessed to
have had a supportive husband through university and graduate school.
From
1992 to the end of 1999 I worked for Jim Huang and Jennie Jacobson
at Deadly Passions Bookshop.
We specialized in mystery, romance, and science fiction books. It was a
great opportunity for me to learn more about the publishing industry,
bookselling, and book collecting, and Jim was a fantastic mentor and
resource. I
began collecting
first edition
mysteries in 1992, with a primary focus on novels set in Italy.
Prominent authors in my collection include Donna Leon, Magdalene Nabb,
and Michael Dibdin. I studied creative writing
with Ms. Leon while I was stationed in Italy (she taught for the
University of Maryland extension service) and was
thrilled to see her first book in print, Death at LaFenice. Changing
demographics and my
desire to move on to other things led to the demise of Deadly Passions
in 1999. The store was
resurrected in Carmel, Indiana in 2003 as The
Mystery Company. Jim Huang is
also the
publisher of The Drood Review of
Mystery, a semi-pro mystery
fanzine for
which I
occasionally review new mysteries.
I worked for four years in Western
Michigan University's Waldo
Library.
My cataloging job was interesting, but I felt isolated from the rest of
the library in that position. I found it difficult to understand the
connection between
the Cataloging Department and Interlibrary Loan, Reference, and many
other
departments. My need to understand more about the field of
librarianship led me to
apply to a graduate school where I would be able to pursue a Masters
degree in
Library Science.
In December of 2005, when this
essay was written, I was halfway through the distance-education program
at Southern
Connecticut State
University.
All of my
coursework has been done in an online
environment. I enjoy the intellectual challenge offered by the
program, but it has not been painless. Distance learning,
especially at the graduate school level, requires a high degree of
self-motivation. One must also have an agile mind and an ability to
perform research quickly and
effectively, through a combination of web-accessible and local
resources. My local academic and public libraries, and the librarians
within, have provided me with a great variety of resources and support.
Becoming a librarian brings many of my hobbies and passions full
circle: books,
reading, graphic design and printing, and life-long learning are all very
important aspects of my personal and professional life.
As of 2007, I am the Catalog Librarian at Grand Valley State
University, with a primary focus on knowing, understanding, and
applying national and international bibliographic standards to the
records in our library catalog. I am the primary resource for questions
about the cataloging module of the Voyager system. I am also involved
with the planning and development of the university's Institutional
Repository, specifically with the metadata schemes that will be
employed. I am also an "out" and partnered lesbian, active in the LGBT
community on campus and with the Religious Society of Friends in Grand
Rapids.
Last updated 2007-06-09. ALR.