Librarian Spotlight: Emily Dezurick-Badran

Emily Dezurick-Badran works with teens as an Enquiry Assistant at Southend Central Library in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. She recently started the YA Library UK blog, loves her job, and has a penchant for horror. Read on to learn more about Emily!

How long have you been a librarian?
Unfortunately I’m not yet a librarian! I don’t have the qualification, so I’m simply an Enquiry Assistant, which is somewhere between being a Library Assistant and a Librarian. If all goes well, I’ll have start my MA in Library and Information Science in fall 2011.

I’ve been working as an Enquiry Assistant at Southend Central Library in Southend-on-Sea (in Essex, England) for about a year and nine months.

Why did you want to be a teen librarian?
I enjoy the way that young people–who are still outside of and somewhat suppressed by the adult world–question and challenge its artificial order. I have always been very pro-education and pro-information but uncomfortable with the authoritarian nature of the school system, so reaching teens through the library is a happy medium.

During my adolescence I spent a great deal of time lurking in various branches of San Francisco Public Library (I was born and raised in America). I knew a really wonderful teen librarian named Betsy Levine (who still works at SFPL!) who had a talent for bringing shy teens out of their shells and providing varied and exciting programming. I was inspired by my excellent experience both with the library collection itself and with Betsy specifically!

What steps led you to your current position?
I’m very lucky–I was hired as an Enquiry Assistant without any formal library experience except volunteer work. As soon as I completed preliminary training I asked to get involved with our teen reading group, and my role simply expanded from there. I’ve been very persistent in my enthusiasm for YA lit and teen services, and my supervisors are wonderfully supportive, so I’ve been allowed to assist with and sometimes create new teen-related projects.

What has been your favorite teen program?
My favorite event was definitely our Manga Day, a mini-convention that subsumed our library for one glorious Saturday. The whole thing was complete chaos of the best kind. I especially enjoyed watching some of the shyer young people discover other members of the local geek community and make new friends.

Are there any upcoming programs or events you’re looking forward to?
Working with teens has just been officially added to my professional goals for the next year (previously it was an official part of my post!). I’m just beginning to consider a plan for the next year of teen programming, so nothing’s certain at the moment. My two wonderful managers have invited me to collaborate with them on a three-year teen plan, so I’m quite happy and optimistic about that.

What is the best part about your job?
Helping people of all ages is the best aspect of my job, although it can also be the most frustrating part. I also love creating new teen programs and finding new solutions to seemingly impossible problems (lack of funds, staff, et cetera). Getting to know the teens who come to library programs on a regular basis has been a real pleasure, too.

Are you involved with any professional organizations?
I’m a member of the American Library Association, specifically YALSA, who have awarded me a grant to attend this year’s YALSA conference, which I’m tremendously excited about. I frequently read and post to the YA-YAAC list. I’m also in the process of getting my CILIP membership (CILIP is the UK’s professional library association).

Do you have any favorite online resources?
For YA I often look at teenlibrarian.co.uk (run by the fantastic Matt Imrie) and the YALSA blog for advice on teen programs and events. I read Chicklish for YA reviews, and really enjoy the Book Smugglers’ YA Appreciation Month. Personally I use or refer many people to online libraries such as Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive (the latter not least for its fantastic film stock), and encyclopedias like Wolfram Alpha and of course the ubiquitous Wikipedia.

What are some of your favorite books, series, authors or genres?
I hope you know that this is an unreasonable question to ask someone who works in a library! I’ll just direct you to my Goodreads profile.

As for YA: Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (even though I keep typing “Absolutely True Dairy”–rather a different book, I’d imagine. “The cows had all settled in their…” what is it? Pens? Mangers? Cowsheds? Er, corrals? What do cows settle in?), I adore Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy (which I first read when I was a young teen!), and I enjoy anything Robin McKinley writes. As for supernatural YA novels, Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series is my absolute favourite–I love the tough-as-nails heroine and the clever incorporation of folklore and invented theology.

More recently I read Jean Ure’s novel Bad Alice, which I highly recommend to teens and adults alike.

Any other favorite pop culture stuff (movies, TV, music, games)?
Horror films are an obsession, as are comics (I mostly enjoy story lines influenced by but just outside the Marvel/DC superhero tradition–The Maxx, Watchmen, Sandman, Preacher, but also love comics like A Child’s Life and Persepolis and Madison Clell’s Cuckoo). Red Dwarf is probably my favourite TV series. At present I’m obsessed with the idea of gaming as a new type of storytelling, and am especially interested in Alternate Reality Games.

Vampires, werewolves, or zombies?
I believe in equal opportunities for all monsters! My favourite horror novel is definitely Let the Right One In, (although I also love Shirley Jackson’s spooky stories), but I also love the Romero and post-Romero zombie. I could go on forever about monsters.

August 19th, 2010  ♥  Librarian Spotlight  ♥  1 Comment »