As you can guess, our librarians here at Johns Hopkins are busy providing support to our students and faculty; however, this year we were able to snag a few interviews with them for National Library Workers Day (NLWD).
Robin Sinn, Office of Scholarly Communication
What do you do at MSEL? I support the movement to Open Research at Johns Hopkins. I work within the Hopkins Libraries to ensure that reputable open resources are part of our work flows and services. I educate undergraduate students so they can evaluate and identify reliable open resources. I work with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty to promote their use of open platforms when they disseminate their research. And I support Hopkins administrators about Open Research as they plan for the future of the university.
What’s the favorite part of your job? Talking with researchers about their work and how to make it openly accessible.
What’s your favorite place in the library? The two chairs just inside the B Level door between the BLC and MSEL. I love sitting there in the morning and reading.
What do you do in your spare time? Right now I’m training for a 50k, One Day Hike. Most Saturdays you can find me on the Northern Central Railroad Trail (NCR) for a few hours.
How long have you been at Hopkins? About 13 years.
What’s your favorite place to visit in Baltimore? Fells Point
Jennifer Hill, Entrepreneurial Library Program
What’s the favorite part of your job? I am a distance education librarian and electronic resources manager in the Entrepreneurial Library Program. This department provides library services to external clients. I work on a team that created and maintains a 100% online library for an online college. Every day is different and interesting! I love being able to practice many facets of librarianship all in one day. For example, I might work on drafting assessment questions for an annual library student survey, then troubleshoot a broken article link in our discovery tool, and then help a student research global warming for an assignment via email, phone or chat. The days fly by and 10+ years later, I am still here and look forward to going to work each day.
What’s your favorite place in the library? My office is on the Mount Washington campus, so I don’t spend too much time on the Homewood Campus, and our library is entirely virtual. I really enjoy visiting the children’s room at the Baltimore county public library with my son on the weekends.
What do you do in your spare time? Play with my almost 3 year old toddler, drink lots of iced coffee, watch bad (seriously, embarrassing) reality TV, write Yelp reviews, and I read every night before bed (after watching TV) to fall asleep. I mostly read YA (young adult) fiction and food writing.
How long have you been at Hopkins? 11 years in July! This was my first job after getting a Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) degree at the UNC, and I am still loving it.
What’s your favorite place to visit in Baltimore? The George Peabody Library. I know this sounds super cliché coming from a librarian, but it is one of the most beautiful places ever. Plus, I got married there in 2013, so it brings back many great memories.
John Schweitzer. Collection Services
What’s the favorite part of your job? Interacting with students, orienting patrons to available library services / collections / databases, and creative problem solving.
What’s your favorite place in the library? Everywhere, except D-level machine rooms, Q-level mechanical rooms and all utility closets!
What do you do in your spare time? Dream of the next National Park destination.
How long have you been at Hopkins? November 1988!
What’s your favorite place to visit in Baltimore? It’s a tie: Namaste (Cold Spring Lane restaurant), and the North Central Railroad Trail (in late spring), if that can be considered Baltimore.
