Your name, current work place and position (for students, please tell us what school you’re attending and if you have chosen a specialization):
I am Eunah Snyder, and my maiden name is Eunah Lee. I am in my fourth semester in the Master of Information (MI) program at Rutgers University, with a concentration on academic librarianship and digital humanities. I worked as an intern in the Michigan State University Libraries (MSUL) from August, 2017 to May, 2018.
Where did you attend school for your MLIS degree?
I started my degree summer 2017 at Rutgers University, and I expect to graduate this fall.
How long have you been an APALA member? Why did you first join? Are you currently involved as an officer/committee member/other volunteer?
I have been an APALA member since this spring. I have dreamed to build collections that enable academic communities to share and disperse publications about and by Asians and Asian immigrants. Also, if I land an academic librarian job, I want to participate in and initiate outreach programs for literacy and library use for underrepresented college students and international students. I was looking for organizations that I can make contributions, and I wanted to meet people who would have similar interest and goals. Also, I wanted to have a mentor who could give advice for challenges and different experiences that racial/ethnic minorities might encounter, and later I want to do the same for newcomers of the field.
We’re very interested in the diversity of ethnic/cultural heritage within APALA. Please share your ethnic/cultural heritage with us and any other background information, as desired.
I grew up in South Korea and came to the U.S. to receive Ph.D. in English at Michigan State University. Having specialized as a graduate student in the modern literature and culture of East Asia and the Asian Diaspora, I received a Ph.D. in English at Michigan State University (MSU) in 2016 and was hired there in 2017 as an adjunct assistant professor. Within my specialization of East Asia and the Asian Diaspora, my scholarship (including three peer-reviewed articles) has focused on Korean Studies in particular and East Asian Studies more broadly, as has my experience teaching and working with college students for more than ten years.
As an avid reader of Korean literature, as well as a passionate observer of history and culture, it has been my strong wish to contribute to the dissemination of Korean literature and culture globally, to be shared with global readers and audiences. In the future, being an academic librarian, I want to publish novels depicting stories of immigrant/migrant women as well.
What aspects of librarianship are key to your personal satisfaction at work. Please share some of your professional goals and interests.
Personally, I love the collaborative culture of librarians. In my experience, librarians and professors in the field of Library and Information Science are incredibly kind, supportive, and encouraging. Professionally, I want to be a subject librarian of an academic library. I have been interested in the Digital Humanities, attending numerous workshops and symposia in Digital Humanities held by the English department and Libraries at MSU and by taking webinars about the Digital Humanities via ACRL Choice. Moreover, I am very enthusiastic about continuing to learn about critical librarianship and current issues regarding information literacy.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you again for awarding me the travel grant for the 2018 ALA Conference. I am very excited to meet some of committee members of the APALA at the conference. I also, if I have a chance, plan to publish a short story and submit it to the APALA Literature Awards!