A new librarian started at Claire T. Carney Library on May 1st! Read through the interview below to get to know our new Arts & Humanities Librarian, Olivia Miller.
So you’re the Arts & Humanities Librarian? What does that even mean? I function as a liaison to all students, faculty, and staff in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the departments of Philosophy and English Literature and Criticism. That means I answer questions, buy books, teach library instruction sessions, and do one-on-one research consultations all for these departments. I also spend time on the Reference Desk in the Learning Commons each week so I answer questions for lots of different departments as much as I can.
Where are you from? I grew up in the foothills of North Carolina so I say things like “y’all.” More recently I lived in Greensboro, NC where I worked as the Public Services Librarian at Greensboro College.
Hmm. Greensboro. That sounds familiar. Is it historically important? I’m so glad you asked! Greensboro played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Four African American college students from North Carolina A&T asked to be served at the lunch counter at Woolworth’s. They were refused service because of their race so they refused to leave and jumpstarted a nationwide sit-in movement.
Where did you go to school and what did you major in? My undergraduate degree is from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro where I double majored in Art History and English and minored in Classics. I also have a master’s degree in Library Science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. In grad school I mostly focused on art librarianship so I could continue to use the skills I learned as an undergrad in my professional career.
Do you have any hobbies that aren’t librarian-ish? It’s a stereotype that librarians read a lot and I adhere to that stereotype. I think I read around 80 books last year (a lot were comics but they’re still books!). I love to travel and have made a promise to myself to travel somewhere within the US and somewhere out of the country once a year (the photo above is from August with me squinting in the Icelandic sun in front of a geyser that’s preparing to do its geyser thing). I also practice yoga as much as I can.
What are you looking forward to this Fall semester? I’m excited about meeting and getting to know the students, faculty, and staff in my departments.
If you had to give one piece of advice to students, what would it be? Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
How can someone contact you if they need help with research? You can email, call, or stop by my office. You can find my contact info here.