Juan Suarez Romero 1Why I Want To Be a Librarian
More than two centuries ago, John Adams stated that “liberty cannot be preservedwithout a general knowledge among the people.” Nowadays,
as an intern for the FreeLibrary of Philadelphia Foundation, I have seen librarianship is a noble profession topreserve freedom and democracy for many disenfranchised people, especially in ourcities. With this goal in mind, I believe I have both qualities and vision to be an excellentlibrarian and empower people by defending their access to information and technology.Therefore, I deserve to be accepted as a student in your Fast Track MLIS Program.I have qualifications that support me in pursuing a career in librarianship. SinceSeptember 2006 I have been working as an intern for the Free Library of Philadelphia,specifically at Kensington Library, a branch located in the heart of the Latino community.At Kensington, I have designed and executed a job hunting program to help people withresumes, cover letters, and online employment applications. Also, during this internship, Ihave provided bilingual (English and Spanish) reference assistance to patrons and I havebeen trained in customer service skills, conflict resolution, and public speaking.My skills in designing, advertising, and implementing library programminginclude the use of information technology. I use a variety of online databases foracademic research, such as EBSCO, ERIC, JSTOR, and Google Scholar. I also use otheronline resources on a daily basis, such as Internet, email, search engines, and meta-searchengines. I frequently utilize software for word processing, calculation, image edition, andpresentation, such as Microsoft Office and AppleWorks. I consider these skills areundoubtedly necessary to succeed not only in your online program, but also as librarianof the 21
st
Century, in which electronic resources are increasingly in demand.
Leave a Comment