Over the summer, we were thrilled to welcome Georgia Seely, as our new Library Associate. Below, Georgia offers insight into her role at MSP and a little about herself. Welcome, Georgia!
Give us a snapshot of your professional/academic background.
I went to college at MSU, where I majored in Chinese language and minored in Religious Studies! I also got to study abroad in Harbin, China in 2019, which was such an awesome experience, and I was the last year to get to go to China before the pandemic, which made it even more special in hindsight. My language skills are extremely rusty, but I’d love to go back someday. After college, I was a circulation clerk at the Okemos branch of the Capital Area District Library for a little over a year, and until recently, I’ve been working as a Children’s Library Aide at the Wayne Public Library, where I worked the reference desks and was in charge of running most of our library events for kids.
Describe your role at MSP.
I just asked Rachel how I should describe my role here, and they said “sprawling”, if that gives a good picture? A lot of my role will be in circulation and day-to-day library operations, with one of the bigger responsibilities being managing our ILL system- so if you ever need to request a digital or physical material from another library, I’ll be the one getting you the goods. I’ll also just be a third body in the library helping Rachel and Stephanie out with any and all projects that come up; so much of maintaining a functioning library happens behind the scenes, and it’s a lot for two people to juggle, even if they’re both super awesome at what they do (which they are), so I love that I get to take a little off of both our librarians’ plates and be part of this team of three.
What attracted you to working at MSP?
My library career so far has been totally in public libraries, and while I think the existence of public libraries is just about the best thing that has ever happened, and I’ve absolutely loved having the privilege of being a part of them, I have been interested in the academic side of the library world for a while now. I was also impressed with MSP’s commitment to not backing down from DEI initiatives in this current timeline we are all living in. One of my concerns when thinking about transitioning to academic libraries was ending up at a place that would not stand firm on its values under external pressure. So, I was really happy to hear that MSP has no intention of changing what it stands for. I’m glad that I get to work in this library in this school and help provide free access to diverse, intersectional, and up-to-date information for students who are the future of mental health care in our society.
What are you looking forward to most in this position?
I started at the beginning of August, and it has been nice to have this quiet month to settle in, but honestly, I’m super excited to meet all the students and get to know them! I would love to bring small interactive stuff into the library (weekly question poll? coloring sheets for when you need a brain-break from studying? do I foresee a dedicated community puzzle table in our near future?). Libraries really belong to the people who use them, and I believe that the other half of the “free access to information” coin is free access to communal space, so I’d love to hear from students what kinds of things they would like to see in their library.
What is one thing that people might be surprised to know about you?
I’m a very musical person, and I especially love singing and playing the piano, but one musical instrument I play that is maybe a little less common is the harp! There was a time in college when I was constantly getting harp videos recommended to me online, and I totally fell in love with them, but was kind of content with just appreciating them from afar and distantly wishing that was me. Then one day, I was walking out of choir practice, and who did I run into but MSU’s harp professor, standing right there, taking a break from wheeling around her gigantic 6-foot-tall harp? So, I took it as a sign from the universe and took harp lessons in my final year of college. Now I have my own harp (though less gigantic), and it’s my baby, and I adore it. My favorite things to play are songs from video games I love.