Yelena Luckert
ALA Divisions:
Creative, curious, knowledgeable.
I have to read a lot for work to keep current and interesting, but for pleasure, I really like historical mysteries. Since it is the summer vacation time for me, I am finishing up the Oliver Pötzsch's "The Hangman's Daughter" series, and re-reading Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose", which is so entwined with the profession of librarianship. Besides, I had the honor of meeting him in person many years ago.
Community, support, ideas.
ACRL helps professionals meet their colleagues, articulate issues that affect us all and help inform future directions. ACRL keeps us current with our profession and trends in higher education. It also creates many professional opportunities, that help individual librarians grow in their professional development.
The impact of an academic librarian on campus, in my mind, is immeasurable. We are not only keepers and distributors of information, but we are educators and partners who are contributing to the success of our students and faculty in teaching, learning, and research. Our mission and goals are the same as our home institutions. We are also there to make sure that our students become life-long learners and critical consumers of information.
My career choice to become an academic librarian was deliberate. From the first time I step into an academic library as an undergraduate and a recent immigrant, I was completely smitten with the library system in the United States: the openness, accessibility, equality, neutrality, strive to help, and vast-vast collections and opportunities to learn and create. I wanted to be a part of this experience and a participant in its success. Much has changed since my undergraduate years, but the library as I am describing it here is still the same place. I deeply cherish it and am so very proud to be a part of its mosaic.
Credentials:MLIS
Title:Director of Research and Learning
Workplace:University of Maryland Libraries
Location:College Park, MD