Ray Pun: Interview with Public Librarian Alison Peters
Alison Peters (she/her/hers) is Librarian in Contra Costa County. Alison came to librarianship via an English degree (UC Berkeley) and MFA (Mills College): with the MLIS (San Jose State University), she's achieved a bookish trifecta. She has interned with Librarians Without Borders and freelanced for Book Riot, Collaborative Librarianship, MediaShift, Hack Library School (HLS), and the East Bay Express. Attending 2018’s Joint Conference for Librarians of Color (JCLC) empowered Alison to propose her Library’s first Diversity Committee, which was proudly convened in June 2019. Alison was a 2019-2020 CLA Leadership Cohort - a bonus was making great librarian friends.
Ray: Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview, Alison! Can you tell us about your work and how you got into librarianship?
Alison: Thank you, Ray! I’m so happy to be chatting with you for this beautiful, necessary group. WOC+Lib is exactly what I need in my life right now.
I got into librarianship the long way, but it was the perfect path for me. And being a public librarian has allowed me to work with and cater directly to the community, taking their input and concerns and turning them into programs, outreach, and books that honor community needs.
I started my professional career as a Recruiter, and then found a wonderful little local company, HR Options, where I transitioned to a Project Manager/HR Professional. In this role, as a Project Manager, I worked as an HR consultant, hiring manager, mediator, and recruiting specialist. My work with unions and tech companies, retail groups, and even large international shipping organizations gave me knowledge of, and appreciation for, the work that Human Resources does. At its most basic, this work strives to make sure people get paid correctly, and to make sure policies that were designed to ensure the safety and respect for everyone are followed. Some examples are anti-harassment policies, ensuring equitable hiring practices, regular performance evaluations, and so on. My work in HR gave me what I think is a great background to transition to librarianship, which is full of complex relationships with cities, counties, states, unions, and all sorts of employees.
While I was doing this HR work I was also following my passion, which is writing, and obtained an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College in Oakland (www.mills.edu), which was just a fantastic experience. Mills is an all-women undergraduate campus (the graduate programs are open to everyone) and going onto that campus after a long workday to talk writing, journalism, meet all sorts of creative, thoughtful, passionate writers, with a focus on women and people of color was transformative and inspiring. This transformative and inspiring environment helped me to pursue writing, which I did via writing for Curve Magazine, book reviews for the East Bay Express, and freelancing.
My work in writing led me to think about what I really wanted in a career, and when a career counselor suggested librarianship, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before! I started taking MLIS classes at San Jose State University’s iSchool, an online program that is absolutely accessible, engaging, and inspiring. While I was a student, I participated in an internship with Librarians Without Borders (http://lwb-online.org/), worked on populating and marketing the LIS Publications Wiki (https://ischoolwikis.sjsu.edu/lispublications/) which is a great resource for LIS writers-it seeks out publications that accept library-related queries and gives you all the information you need to research the publication, contact and submit a query!-, and wrote Community Profiles (https://ischool.sjsu.edu/community-profiles) of these outstanding librarians all over the world.
After I got the degree, I applied for jobs and found the perfect position for me: Librarian at El Cerrito Library, a small, vibrant, community-supported, and championed library in the Contra Costa County Library system. I’ve been here for two and a half years now and have loved every minute. And after attending the Joint Conference for Librarians of Color (https://www.jclcinc.org/) in Albuquerque, NM in 2018, a group of us were inspired to propose and create Contra Costa County Library’s first Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) committee, a group that I’m so honored to be working with for the benefit of all of our staff, and patrons.
R: What do you enjoy most about your current position?
Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash
A: It’s a cliché that librarians are just in it for the books, however, I love being a librarian and getting to work with people who want to read and discuss great books! So working with the El Cerrito Community, a diverse group of folks of all ages who wholeheartedly support their library, is a blessing.
At El Cerrito Library I’ve had the opportunity to work on opening the County’s first LGBTQ+ Special Collection; we hosted a One City One Book where we discussed The 57 Bus, (https://www.dashkaslater.com/the-57-bus) a local writer’s true account of a teen who was set on fire by another teen while riding the bus, and the unexpected friendships, lessons, and heartbreak that resulted - including bringing in local social justice and LGBTQ+ communities as support around the questions and concerns raised in the book; we happily hosted Drag Queen Storytime; and I get to bring the community programs like Brazilian drumming and lei making workshops, Master Gardener and Ancestry programs, and I created a Mystery Book Club which gave me the opportunity to work with Mystery Writers of Northern California and host a local author panel discussion. And once COVID made virtual programs a necessity, the people I work with happily transitioned online so we could bring things like meditation, storytime, and home organizing workshops to people sheltering at home. I feel truly lucky to have this opportunity.
R: What do you like to do for fun? How do you center yourself and maintain a work/life balance?
A: Right now, I’m addicted to meditating, thanks to both working with my library meditation guide, and using the Calm app as a tool to help ease stress in my life. It’s particularly useful as a come-down breathing-centric tool for work breaks in my car, especially since we’re back at work now.. the library is open for Front Door Service to pick up books, and in our small branch, we’re taking all of the masking and social distance measures very seriously. When I do need some time to take off the mask and just be, I take a meditation break in my car every once in a while. I love reading, as noted, and when I come home from work right now my priorities are playing with and walking my dog, Bella, heading out to the garden to spend some time with my plants (I just got some water lilies, and I’m so excited!), and reading. Basically, I putter around, and right now that makes me really happy. And when we need to get out of the house, my wife and I are lucky to have lots of safe open space and parklands and hills nearby. But I can’t wait to get back to the beach! That’s my first love.
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash
R: I was so fortunate to have met you and other amazing library leaders in the Developing Leaders in California Libraries Program! What motivates you to be a leader in our profession?
“I’m also motivated by my experiences growing up as a little Black girl who loved libraries and loved reading but seldom saw herself in either. I love that there are a growing number of books for readers of all ages written by and featuring people of color and I am so excited to be in a changing library world where POC are taking up our place and ensuring that libraries are open and accessible to everyone. That’s what libraries are, or should be, all about. ”
A: I think you hit on it: it’s the inspiration of other people - librarians and folks who are working on behalf of their committees, families, and libraries to make the world a better place. Meeting you and everyone else in the Cohort was a fascinating look into what other librarians are up to. I feel like I tend to get stuck in my own little library world, and it’s good to pop out and see what other people are up to, to talk about concerns and share our ideas, and to learn from other people in the LIS world.
I’m also motivated by my experiences growing up as a little Black girl who loved libraries and loved reading but seldom saw herself in either. I love that there are a growing number of books for readers of all ages written by and featuring people of color (https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp) and I am so excited to be in a changing library world where POC are taking up our place and ensuring that libraries are open and accessible to everyone. That’s what libraries are, or should be, all about.
R: Can you tell us what projects you are working on and what gets you excited about the profession?
A: Right now, Contra Costa County Libraries and our EDI group are partnering with the local League of Women Voters, organizing a panel discussion on Women of Color Activists: Then and Now. The idea was inspired by the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, and specifically highlighting the struggles WOC endured throughout the process. We were left out, purposely, at crucial moments but continued to organize and fight to have the same rights as other women in this country, and I need this to be something that is brought out into the open and talked about. There are so many parallels to that era vs what’s happening in our world today, and I think we can learn a lot of positive lessons from the struggle of WOC suffragists.
“People trust libraries, and with that trust, I want to give back by providing access to books, information, programs - whatever I can do, I will.”
That’s what gets me excited: the information part. Finding that one bit of information someone needs; sharing necessary information with the public (like all of the details on voting in 2020!), and discovering new avenues of sharing, from print publications to flyers to websites, email lists, community centers, blogs. Just any way I can to make sure I reach the people who need the information.
People trust libraries, and with that trust, I want to give back by providing access to books, information, programs - whatever I can do, I will.
Ray Pun (he/him/his) is an academic librarian in the Bay Area, California. Ray has presented and published on the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the profession. He’s a regular contributor to WOC+Lib.