13 Questions With: Marie DeYoung

March 31, 2013

University Librarian, St. Mary’s University
Vice-President/President-Elect, Canadian Library Association

A hero who has inspired you in your career?

That’s a tough one because mostly all the library school students I meet inspire me – with their energy, enthusiasm and sense of adventure for the profession.

The first job you ever held and at what age?

Dish washer in a rural Nova Scotia restaurant, at the age of 16.

Your first position in the library and/or information services field?

The position I recall with the most amazement that I actually got to do it was during my Ryerson LIT practicum. I got to catalogue bugs and butterflies at the Royal Ontario Museum library. It was a wonderful experience to see what happens behind the scenes in a large urban museum.

Coolest thing in your cubicle or office?

A picture of wildflowers painted on an old barn window.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Up until very recently I would have said chocolate but with great regret for all things chocolate I must say it is now very good scotch whiskey.

Career advice – what’s your top tip?

Take risks, that’s the only way to test your ability to master new things and grow as a professional.

What useless skill(s) do you possess?

I can whistle while I walk!

Proudest moment in your professional life?

Seeing every campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, all 13 of them, have an actual library with staff, books and service.

If you had 24 hours all to yourself, how would you best like to spend it?

It is so librarianish, but I would have to say reading, with a big pot of tea and a warm cat.

If you didn’t work in the information industry, what would you be doing?

Cooking at a restaurant in Paris.

Finish this sentence: “In high school, I would have been voted the person most likely to … “

be an English or History Professor.

How do you stay current in your field?

I participate in the Dalhousie School of Information Management Professional Partnering Program. Students share the most exciting things about the courses they are taking and assignments they have to complete. I read every issue of Harvard Business Review, everything I can find on information literacy (blogs, books, articles) and as much as possible attend library conferences put on by associations such as CLA, APLA and OLA.

What would you like your headstone to read?

Lived big, died happy.