Latest Events

• Tour of the Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library with Mark Estes, March 10
• BayNet 2010 Annual Meeting with Author Siva Vaidhyanathan, May 21

Latest Q & A

• Librarian Susan Geiger and Moreau Catholic High School
• Lauren John of the Town and Country Club in San Francisco
• Heidi Goldstein and Ex’pression College for Digital Arts
• Deborah Hunt and Information Edge
• Sharon Miller and the Mechanics’ Institute
• See more Q & A.

Golden Gate University was founded more than 100 years ago in San Francisco and offers undergraduate and graduate programs in business and management, information technology, taxation, and law.

What is one thing your library is very good at?
Practical business research, such as actual businesses do.

Is there something else about your library that most people do not know?
There are two libraries, we’re not the Law Library.

Why did you become a librarian?
The setting: you meet far more interesting people than anywhere else I have worked.

What are your major responsibilities at the library?
I make order out of chaos.

What is it about your job that most people don’t realize that you do?
I make order out of chaos.

What do you like best or worst about your job?
Both: I make order out of chaos.

What was your most memorable experience at work?
At the New York Public Library one day a woman ran towards the reference desk screaming “would somebody please help me!” I ran around from behind the reference desk to come to her aid thinking she was in some life-threatening situation. Then she blurted out a reference question.

What’s one thing about you that few people know?
Once upon a time I wanted to be a violinist until an injury made that impossible.

If someone wrote a book about your life, what would be the title?
Kafka’s Step-son

What do you think will be the biggest change in libraries and information services in the future?
People used to have no choice but to come to us for information. Now we have to go to them or they’ll believe the stuff they find on Google.

Livermore Public Library

What is one thing your library is very good at? I think the Livermore Public Library does a great job of providing something for everyone, from baby storytimes to retirement planning seminars.

Is there something else about your library that most people do not know? The Livermore Public Library is one of the first public libraries in California to provide a full-service job center, complete with an in-house career advisor.

Who are your most frequent types of users? Livermore community members of all ages are the most frequent users. However, we also get many patrons from surrounding areas such as Pleasanton, Dublin, Tracy, etc. Community members often bring in their relatives and friends who are visiting from out of state to see our main Civic Center Library. We’re glad they like to show it off!

What do you like best about your users? They are so appreciative of the services we offer. We have the good fortune of being in a very supportive community.

What initially attracted you to library work? I have always loved libraries. In college my original major was Elementary Education, but after my first student teaching experience I decided that I would prefer to focus on education in a library setting rather than in a classroom.

BayNet 2008 Strategic Planning Committee. Tamera is second from right.

What is it about your job that most people don’t realize that you do? Being a manager in a public library utilizes a wide range of skills that would not necessarily be taught in library school; everything from facility maintenance to classroom management to negotiation skills. When we have to deal with a clogged toilet, my colleagues and I will joke that we must have missed the plumbing class while in library school.

What is most challenging about working in your library? The aspect of the work that I love (the variety of patrons) can also be challenging. In this era of shrinking budgets, it’s a big challenge to continue to provide such a broad array of services.

How do you spend time off work? I like to go on hikes all around the Bay Area with family and friends. I also love the ocean. When stressed, I try to think of my “happy place” which is a lanai in Hawaii overlooking the ocean.

Ahhh, but behind the scenes, away from the glitter and glamour of the stage, deep in the teeming bowels of the Opera House, scenes of tragedy and triumph are taking place every day. And in the midst of this is the music librarian, issuing budget projections, music copies for practice, piano rehearsal scores, conductor’s scores, scores for stage managers and sound technicians and television producers, as well as information for all of the Ballet’s departments on the instrumentation, duration, available recordings, composer, publisher and copyright status of every piece of music the Ballet performs.

Read more at Open Studio 455. Includes library pictures.

On persevering: I’ve been working on it seven years. It is starting construction as we speak. It will be completed in the spring of 2011.

On touring Moffitt Library: I walked through with a lot of other architects who were all competing for the project. I was there in the morning, in the afternoon. I didn’t go at 2 a.m. when you see it in its true form.

On renovating Moffitt: It is 1960s concrete brutalist. I think the bones of Moffitt are good. I wouldn’t dynamite it. I’d clear it out, open it up. Bring some daylight in, update the furniture, make it comfortable. It’s dreary at the moment.

More at the San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2009.