Hello to my new Wayne State LIS friends!

Holla!

My name is Maryknoll Javier. I am originally from a place called Cebu, also known as the Queen City of the South (Philippines, that is). Since 1984, I have lived in the 'hood, otherwise known as Compton, California.

Becoming a librarian never crossed my mind growing up in the Philippines, where there were no public libraries. My career with the library happened by accident, when I saw a bulletin for a library aide position. At the time, I was studying to be a registered nurse, where I was so miserable and constantly ditching classes and escaping to my local public library instead. Although I eventually finished my associate nursing degree, I never took the licensing exam, because by then, I knew I had found my real place in the world.

Nowadays, I work full-time as a Library Assistant I in the County of Los Angeles Public Library (CoLAPL) system, specifically at the Artesia Library in Artesia, CA. Career advancement in this position is extremely rare, as there are only literally a handful of them available and are seldom open. I have been an assistant at Artesia for five years and know full well that my most realistic hope for a promotion is to become a librarian. As to a specific career goal once I get my LIS degree, I'm not going to be picky, though I would probably remain with CoLAPL since I am already vested for my retirement benefits. In this class, I hope to gain, among other things, more knowledge about leadership and management, as well as better ways of dealing with difficult customers. I feel that one can never learn enough about these topics.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I am crazy obsessed about Harry Potter! My obsession started when the myBookClub (our book club for young readers) spent 2009 reading the entire Harry Potter series. Here I am on the left, dressed up as a Ravenclaw, with my co-workers on Halloween:


I love music. Here I am on the left again with a co-worker outside the Music Box in Hollywood after a Tegan and Sara show:


My crazy doggies:

Buck in the Cpt (as in Compton, CA)

Dobby, A Free Elf

Fang with (the not so) Friendly Puppy

Finally, my Kindle 2:

I was so happy to find our textbook Kindle-ized.

Anyway...

So that's me!