A significant experience on my Appalachian career has been working in Belk Library. Although at times this work was monotonous and tedious, it is the people I met through this job that are the people I speak about when I comment that the people of Appalachian State are so wonderful and great.Out of the eight undergraduate semesters I spent at Appalachian, I spent six of them under the tutelage of Connie Pendley, Pat Farthing, and Sue Hisle in the I.M.C. (Instructional Materials Centre) and I am spending this semester with Jack Love on the circulation desk (I didn’t work my first semester as a freshman – I was still acclimatizing myself to the United States and life as a college student.)
Since day one when I showed up looking for a job with my Trinidadian teammate, Connie and company were absolutely brilliant to me. Connie worked with my varying schedule due to athletics and other commitments and she created an atmosphere that made coming to work enjoyable. In addition to these positives, research and longitudinal studies have proven that Mrs. Connie Pendley is in fact the nicest person in Belk Library.
Jack is also one of the finest people in Belk library. I owe Jack a great deal of gratitude for allowing me to work for him this semester, although this is my student-teaching semester and finding time to work is tight.
Although there are many times in the library when hard work is required, I like to think at instants a bit of fun was had. The most memorable moment from my Belk Library experience is as follows:
One of my main jobs in the I.M.C. was to deliver library books to faculty members who requested them. On this one particular day the sky was overcast and grey, and consequently, Connie had given me a garbage bag. Now because the sky looked rainy and I didn’t have a rain jacket I presumed that this garbage bag was for me and I proceed to make a neatly fitting poncho, with openings for my arms and head. So here I was, already to walk out of the library, ready to take any elements Boone was prepared to throw at me and Connie stops me. To my bewilderment, the garbage bag was actually for me to wrap the books up in so they didn’t get wet while I delivered them, not for my personal comfort. To this day I still get ridiculed for the day I made the poncho. However, it’s all in good fun.
In my opinion, I believe that working in the library is quite possibly the best job on campus. The pay rate is basically the same as any other campus job (and consequently this is not great because in reality you are working for the state) and shelving books has its limitation as a gratifying experience. However, like I said above, the people who you meet in the library are second to none and you couldn’t ask for anymore as a colleague and friend.
As a final note, I would just like to take this moment to thank everybody I had the delight of interacting with in Belk Library, and this includes library faculty, staff, custodians, and fellow student-assistants. You all made a significant impact on my life and I will never forget you and the laughter we shared. The pleasure was all mine.
Like last post, I’m not sure what experience I am going to write about in my next trip down memory lane. I am hoping that to receive a flash of inspiration, like I did for this post, before the next two weeks is up. Fingers crossed this happens.
Until next time,
~Cam
No comments:
Post a Comment