What led you to MU Libraries?

I was born in Sonora, Mexico in a small border town next to Arizona’s southwest corner. I have lived in desert, arid areas all of my life (Sonora, Arizona and Nevada), and I wanted to experience something different. This idea started after having the opportunity to study abroad in Paris and noticing how great it was to live in a place with green vegetation and rain. 

After receiving my Masters in Library and Information Sciences, my priority was to relocate to an area with four seasons. During my job search, I found that the University of Missouri Libraries were hiring.  Besides having the four seasons, I found out the percentage of international students and population in general, especially Hispanics, was almost not existent compared to the Southwest.  So, it got me more excited to join an institution where I can offer assistance to increase a more diverse university population and probably even to the population in general.

Describe some of the changes that are going on in access services in Ellis Library and at libraries everywhere?

Access Services is a department that is currently reevaluating many of its services to satisfy the current and future needs of all library users.  Some changes that are already taking place include the increase of renewals for faculty, graduate students, and staff from two to five, allowing them to possibly keep traditional checked out MU Library materials for up to four months; and extending our interlibrary loan services to visiting scholars.  We are also working on taking the library check out system from due date stamps to print receipts; self-checkout machines to avoid waiting in line; and searching for the best ways to advertise services and equipment that can be checked out from the library.

I foresee in the future of Access Services the increase of staff base knowledge in the means of cross-training to minimize the number of referrals.  This has been taking place in academic, public and private libraries in the world, which has increased the satisfaction level in all library users. I also envision advances in technology to reach all university affiliates, close and far away.

 What vision do you bring to your position?

My vision is to create a collaborative working environment among the different library departments as well as university departments with the sole purpose of facilitating access to information to all library users. Just like the MU Libraries and University Administration, I am pro-inclusion. I believe that the key to success is to work together to create a stronger institution.  I always welcome faculty, staff and student’s feedback to identify what must get done to satisfy everyone’s needs.

MU Libraries recently welcomed a new librarian to the Instructional Services Department! Jennifer Gravley was a former graduate student in the Library and Information Science program at Mizzou, and our library staff is excited to have her back in a professional capacity.  Here's a quick interview, so you can get to know and love her as much as we do.

Q: How did you come to be a librarian?

Jennifer: I suppose I went to library school as part of a midlife career change, but it wasn’t a new consideration. I am definitely not the first person from my creative writing program to go on to become a librarian! I’ve brought the experiences of having taught college courses and worked in scholarly publishing with me, but that’s part of why I love working at a university—there are so many people working in so many different ways to achieve the overall mission of education. Gaining understanding of the different aspects of the scholarly community helps me see more of the big picture.

Q: What aspects of your job at MU Libraries are you excited about?

Jennifer: I look forward to working with freshman writing instructors and students. Having taught freshman writing myself, I know that this is a course that challenges students to become more skillful researchers as well as more proficient writers. And that’s quite a task for any of us to undertake! Growth is uncomfortable but rewarding. It’s now my job to introduce these students to library resources and help them learn some basic research skills to use those resources more effectively.

I also never know what questions will come my way at the reference desk. This isn’t the most common transaction, but sometimes students will come to the desk for help and know what they are looking for, where to find it, and how to find it—but they don’t know that they know. Those opportunities to confirm someone’s research abilities, to help them gain the confidence to utilize the skills they already have, are just as important as helping students gain those same skills in the first place.

Q: Since we are librarians, we have to be stereotypical and ask about books. What was your favorite book you were assigned to read in college, and what are you reading now?

Jennifer: Beloved by Toni Morrison in college.  I recently read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which was incredible.

Stop by Ellis Library to say hi to Jennifer at the reference desk, or to ask about library instruction.