LAMP Spotlight – Bojana Skarich

Libraries have made a huge impact on my life and have given me many tools to succeed. I believe I am a successful person today because of them. My family were immigrants and we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on books, movies or CDs. I remember that my mom would take me to the library and show me that you could borrow all of these materials for free. Her taking me every Sunday to the library gave me an abundance of knowledge and curiosity. Libraries supplied me with the stories, adventures and with educational materials that I could not have obtained otherwise, and with the joy at knowledge for its own sake.

All throughout college, I relied on the Interlibrary Loan system to provide me with text books and this also helped me grow and develop. I loved searching for materials and shelf browsing to develop ideas for my senior thesis. I remember when I graduated from college and was looking for work, I would use the Internet at the local public library in order to send resumes and look up available jobs. There were not many jobs beyond minimum wage -even for college graduates – in Portland, OR where I lived, and I was growing anxious over what I could do to support myself. I worked a couple of retail jobs, and although I could serve people, I felt that I wanted something more to stimulate my intellect. I communicated with several of my friends over email, and one of them, who is a librarian, recommended that I too, become a librarian.