Rodney Howland was a freshly minted teacher when he got his first summer job in a library.
“I caught the bug, so to speak,” he says.
What followed was a 20-year career in libraries at UNB and McMaster University and – beginning last month – in Mount Allison’s R.P. Bell Library.
“I like the public service aspect of it,” explains Rodney from his new position as an Access Services Assistant. “Being able to help somebody fulfill their needs and be more comfortable in the library. And part of that is also organizing and planning to make things run smoothly.”
His first library job involved helping to update a high school library from its old card-catalogue days to a new electronic platform.
“This is interesting stuff!” he remembers thinking. “I’ll go from here.”
He earned his Library Technician’s diploma through a University of New Brunswick continuing education program and then went to work at UNB’s Education Resource Centre at the UNB Libraries. “It was like going home,” says Rodney, who has a Bachelor of Education from UNB and used its libraries as a student.
Library work then drew him to McMaster University, where he spent five years in the Innis Library – a dedicated business library with a small enough staff to enable him to build relationships with librarians and students and do a wide variety of work. His colleagues there praise him for his ideas and dedication. For example, Rodney and his colleagues at Innis created a “de-stress” zone about a decade before most universities began seriously addressing stress and mental health issues.
In true library fashion, they read about the idea and thought, “we can do this!” says Rodney, who adds he looks forward to bringing ideas to fruition in the Mount A Libraries. “I just find the work interesting because it’s at a university – there’s diversity of ideas and people around.”
A lifelong student, Rodney earned his Master of Library and Information Studies at Dalhousie University in 2009. His career speaks to a passion for learning and libraries.
“Libraries are about learning more than about books,” he says. “Even if you never take a course at university, you can come to the library and learn.”
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