Dipesh Navsaria

My undergraduate majors were biology and English Literature, followed by a master’s in public health in health services. I then went to physician assistant school and practiced as a PA for a few years in outpatient pediatrics before going to medical school. It was in the midst of medical school I went to library school with the intention of learning more about children’s literature.

I am now an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin, spending about half my time in primary-care pediatrics at a community health center and the other half of my time doing a blend of advocacy training, early literacy promotion, and medical education/advising. I am the medical director of Reach Out and Read Wisconsin as well. It keeps life interesting!


ABOUT YOUR JOB

Why would a physician want an MLS? (Or, why would a librarian want an MD?)

I went to library school expressly to learn about children’s literature. I did - but I also learned a lot more. I learned that information-seeking behaviors and techniques (particularly around medicine) were not unique to medical education — reference interview is not all that different from medical interviewing. In a sense (if you ignore the performing of “procedures”), medicine could be considered a highly specialized form of librarianship.

Most people are surprised to learn that I was not a librarian before I went to medical school, but that I specifically intended to go to library school during my medical training.

Who is your greatest ally and why?

Public librarians. They give information away as a public good without question. The focus is always on “how can we serve our patrons best” without being unduly wrapped up in questions of profit and financing. Health care could learn a lot from public libraries.

How do literacy and librarianship fit in your current job?

A good part of my time is spent on programs which train health care providers to encourage families to share books together with their young children as a critical aspect of well-child care. It is critical to expose children to the foundational aspects of literacy early in order to build brain development so that they are “primed” for learning in preschool and beyond. As I am fond of saying, Books Build Better Brains!

ADVICE

What’s worth fighting for? Why?

Fight for what you know to be true. Keep repeating it. It’s taken a few years, but the notion of giving books to children as a key component of health care is finally gaining traction.

How do you help parents and other adults understand the value of sharing books with children?

In clinical practice, I give the book directly to the child and watch what they do with it. I can perform a lot of my developmental assessment just by observing. (I’ve said that I’d rather walk into a well-child visit with a young child without my stethoscope than without a book – I learn a lot more from the book!). 

I then comment on what I see to the parents and use that as a springboard to discuss home reading, bedtime, school and the like. I then print out a “prescription to read” on their after-visit summaries to highlight the point.

What can youth services librarians learn from medicine / medical practice?

What you do is critically important. I think too many librarians think that they “only do” something “nice” but not “important”. You are so much of the education and health care infrastructure that I rely on to help ensure my patients develop well. I trust and rely on your core values of public service, privacy, and being non-judgemental.

You’re a bulwark of what makes our society great, and you directly work with and influence the lives of children. Start acting like it, and start asking for what you need to fulfill that mission.

JUST FOR FUN

You can have any superpower; what would it be?

Almost-infinite persuasion. With careful advocacy, we collectively can accomplish virtually anything. (And I say “almost” because there should always be checks on anything.)


You can find Dipesh at
http://facebook.com/DrLibrarian 

http://twitter.com/navsaria 
http://www.navsaria.com
http://reading.pediatrics.wisc.edu
http://www.chawisconsin.org/ror.htm
http://www.reachoutandread.org

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Kim Krueger

I started as a teen public library page, and then worked a few years in Circulation. After college I worked at the Ryerson Library at the Art Institute of Chicago in various capacities, including book conservation and archives.  When my kids were older, I earned my MSLIS through the UIUC LEEP program. During my graduate studies, I made the switch from the academic art library to youth services at a public library. Shortly after getting my degree, I was hired for my present position as the Head of Youth Services at the Brookfield Public Library in Brookfield, IL.

ABOUT YOUR JOB

Tell us about your current position?

As a department head, I manage 3 FTE employees and am responsible for programming and collection development for children from birth through high school. Our small but very busy library serves a suburban population of about 19,000.

For this job, managing youth services programming, staff, and the budget are my greatest responsibilities. It's difficult to meet the needs and wants of a widely varied population. Also, our library is very small, and finding space to work and do programs so we’re not on top of each other is a challenge.

I could not function without my full-time young adult librarian. She manages the young adult programs and collection and is an invaluable sounding board.

How do you manage your time?

I plan programming 2 months ahead based on our newsletter publication schedule. Most of our programs are pretty set and rotate throughout the year. I try to take care of administrative duties well in advance, because something unexpected inevitably comes up. I order materials weekly and as needed, and also do 4 to 5 information desk shifts per week, as well as 2 storytimes and an after-school program.

How do you stay current?

I subscribe to listservs, read blogs, and read the usual professional journals. Entertainment Weekly is one of my best sources for pop culture information. I talk with my colleagues and attend local meetings and national conferences whenever possible. I listen to my clients—children and their parents—and try to meet their needs. Middle school-aged boys know everything about the latest games.

Where do you see yourself making the biggest difference?

I’d like to think I am the friendly librarian who encourages kids of all ages to read whatever they want and to find new books and other media to enjoy.  I want to make the library a place they want to be. I enjoy and value children and love to hear their opinions. They are so much fun to talk to.  I take their wants and needs very seriously and try to make our youth space welcoming.

I measure success when I get a hug from one of my clients! Also, when parents tell me they love our programming and can’t believe that it’s free to the community.

ADVICE

What’s the best (or worst) part about working with young people? 

The best: kids are honest. There are no hidden agendas, and I really appreciate that 

The worst: kids are honest! They have little or no filter, and that can be challenging, especially in a small space that is shared with all age groups.

Kim Krueger

What's a battle you wish you hadn't fought?

I don’t know if it’s a battle or not, but worrying about how many kids are on one computer at the same time is dumb. Who cares?  Kids do things in packs; it’s their nature. Library policies and procedures need to accept reality.

What's worth fighting for?

 A free and open collection filled with materials that children enjoy, and programs that appeal to kids and families – hence, a decent youth services budget.  Kids grow up, and their library experiences in youth will influence whether or not they support their local library when they become tax-paying adults.  My goal is to give them positive experiences that they will remember fondly.

How do you decide what's important?

If we’re talking about programs, I’d say what’s important is having fun programs that kids want to attend. You’ve got to give them what they want, or they won’t come.  Having food always helps. If we’re talking about collections, my opinion is the same. I do try to provide well-written books for them, but they want their superheroes, princesses and video games too, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

What's something you wish you had known when you were starting out in the profession?

 I think graduate school should offer a course in coping with compassion fatigue and burnout. So much of public librarianship is listening. It’s not just about giving people the materials or information they want. It’s a combination of counseling/consoling/cajoling/commiserating—it can be really exhausting. Public service employees really need strong boundaries.

How do you respond when someone asks you, "You need a degree for that?"

Fortunately this hasn’t happened to me, but I’d offer to let them sit at the public service desk for 4 hours, then do a storytime, run an after-school program, and attend a department head meeting and see what they had to say after that.  I’ve certainly learned a great deal through experience, but the degree provided the foundation for my work.

How do you respond when someone asks you, "Isn't everything online?"

Again, I haven’t experienced this directly, but I might say something like: “How long will it take you to sift through Google’s 785,000 possible answers to your question? How will you know which answer is reliable?”  I have seen people’s eyes pop when I tell them the Library pays for databases that offer current, reliable information. They love that!

FOR FUN

How do you defy the librarian stereotypes?

Actually, when I was a kid, my favorite librarian wore glasses on a chain and a bun with a pencil stuck in it. I loved her!  I guess I don’t worry much about it. I laugh a lot and I’m not much of a “shush-er”. I may well be a stereotype myself—I do wear comfortable shoes!

What fictional character would you most like to be for a day?

I always admired Jane Eyre. 

Where do you hope to spend your retirement?

I will be in Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. I could see volunteering to work with children, either at a library or elsewhere, or making digital and print art—or both!

Paper or digital?

My preference is paper.  No doubt my years of book conservation have biased me, but for me, nothing will replace the experience of turning the pages of a book. The art of a picture book is not the same when viewed on a screen; the change of media changes the experience. That being said, I do value digital materials for their versatility, and I absolutely love playing with Photoshop.

E-mail Kim at kkrueger@brookfieldlibrary.info