Annie Pho is currently the Resident Librarian in the Research Services and Resources department at University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her Master’s in Library Science at Indiana University’s School of Library and Information Science at the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis, IN.
Annie recently joined APALA a few months ago!
I joined because I was inspired by the tight-knit community that APALA seems to have. I was the only Asian American student in my library school program, and I wish I had joined APALA when I was still in school. I also attended JCLC (Joint Conference of Librarians of Color) and got to meet so many APALA members there. I just joined the Web Committee and look forward to working with them in the upcoming year.
When we asked about her about her cultural heritage and background, she shared a lesson she’s learned from living around the country:
I’m a first generation Vietnamese-American. My family moved around a bit when I was growing up, which gave me this sense of always trying to live in new places. I spent most of my childhood in Orlando, FL, which was a pretty diverse place. Then we moved to the Bay Area in CA where I have lived most of my life, although now I live in Chicago. All this moving taught me to be open to new experiences and to give everything a chance. I would say that having this approach to life has helped me get to where I am in my career.
Annie and librarianship seem to be a perfect fit:
The fundamental aspect of librarianship that satisfies me is the ability to help people. Ultimately, this is all I ever wanted out of a career. I just wanted to do something with my life that would have a positive impact on society, and I think helping people connect to information is very important. Some of my professional interests lie in library instruction and technology. I’m interested to see how technology can help students develop research skills, especially in this increasingly digital age. I’m also interested in learning more about critical pedagogy and want to try to incorporate that into my own library instruction sessions. Overall, I’m a really curious person, and I love learning new things– which is why I love being a librarian.
Annie stays active on her bike and in social media and is a self-professed cat lady. She says:
In my spare time I like hanging out with my two kitties and riding my bike. After participating in Cycling For Libraries in 2013, I have become more interested in international librarianship. Find me on Twitter as @catladylib or on my blog (http://catladylibrarian.wordpress.com/).
Welcome to the APALA community, Annie!
Article written by Alyssa Jocson, with editing assistance by Jeremiah Paschke-Wood.