About Me (Ben)
I am currently an Information Literacy and Reference Librarian at Michigan State University. My job focuses on teaching information literacy classes to students who are taking a class in the First Year Writing Program through the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC). I also help patrons with research and reference questions by working on the Reference Desk and through our chat, IM and email Reference services. I also coordinate the MSU Libraries Peer Research Assistance program where trained student workers provide reference and research assistance at four of the MSU Neighborhood Engagement Centers. |
Before starting my current position at MSU in 2008, I was an Instruction and Reference Librarian in the Asheville, North Carolina area, first at South College Asheville and later at Mars Hill College. It was wonderful to have the Blue Ridge Mountains outside my back door and to be able to do a ton of hiking, but I missed living in a northern climate and working at a large university.
Prior to becoming a librarian I was a third grade teacher teacher in Raleigh, North Carolina. I enjoyed teaching and working with my students very much, but knew that the elementary school classroom was not the place I would spend my career. After teaching for a few years, I enrolled in graduate school at the the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where I completed a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) degree in 2007. |
My first job after graduating from Millersville University of Pennsylvania in 2000 with a degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education was as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I spent almost 2.5 years in the Slovak Republic teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) at three village primary schools. I had an amazing time in Slovakia and feel very blessed to have been able to have this experience. I made many close Slovak friends, traveled extensively around Slovakia as well as to thirteen other countries in Eastern and Central Europe, and learned a ton during my time there. Overall, it was an incredibly valuable experience.
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I grew up in a small town in south-central Pennsylvania called Mechanicsburg with my parents and two younger sisters. Mechanicsburg is a suburb of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, and lies along the beautiful Susquehanna River.
Outside of work, I've enjoy playing sports, hiking, mountain biking, and traveling. I'd list reading as well, but as a librarian I can't let myself perpetuate that stereotype; although I do break most of the other common ones since I do not knit or have cats! |