When Marlow Zuch joined the OhioLINK Luminaries program, they had just changed their major – moving from psychology to history and creative writing. They thought they could be interested in librarianship as a career path but didn’t know enough about it to decide. After a year in this unique and comprehensive student employment program though, Marlow just might just be hooked.
“This is the best position we have here in the school for someone who wants to be a librarian because of the rotation through each department,” Marlow said. “You get a lot of experience through each career path in librarianship as well as others outside of librarianship – computer science, etc. Even outside of librarianship there are skills you learn in the makerspace, cataloging, and other projects that build important skills for a number of careers.”
The Luminaries program is an effort coordinated by OhioLINK, Ohio’s statewide academic library consortium, that aims to increase representation in library and information sciences careers among underrepresented populations. By moving through different departments, Luminaries gain both an introduction to the library and information services profession and begin to identify career paths that appeal to them.
During their time as a Luminary, Marlow was surprised by the wildly different atmosphere in each department. “In each department, the specialization and breadth of experience was fascinating,” they said. “It was an opportunity to see behind the front cover and what it takes to run a library. There was so much about the library that I didn’t know existed before.”
Laura Birkenhaur, Student Success Librarian for Campus Engagement, served as Marlow’s supervisor during their second semester as a Luminary. “I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Marlow on a project auditing representation of diversity in the library’s leisure reading collection during their rotation with my department, Learning & Engagement. Marlow contributed so much to the project, auditing nearly 200 titles and offering reflective feedback about the audit process and collection itself.”
Marlow will be back to undertake a second year in the Luminaries project. As they think about the future they said, “I think I’m most excited about continuing to look through the libraries for potential opportunities.”