13 Questions With: Stephen R. Warren

January 14, 2014

Library Manager, Vancouver Island Regional Library

A hero who has inspired you in your career?

I have to credit Stephen Blaeser and Anastasia Leontieva for the initial inspiration to enter the LIS field and Richard Hopkins for facilitating my career change. My heroes include Antje Helmuth, Alvin Schrader and Arthur Smith, but my mom was the one who first taught me about books and helping others.

The first job you ever held and at what age?

I was a latch-key kid at 7 and soon bicycled far beyond my agreed- upon boundaries. I had a Province paper route when I was 9.

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

I owe my start to GVPL, Central Branch. Olivia and Patricia hired me to be a part-time Auxiliary Librarian there.

Coolest thing in your cubicle or office?

My son’s LEGO Space Shuttle “Adventure.” A colleague, Kristen Rumohr, suggested using low library space to interact with kids and my LEGO displays (to promote branch programs) are now a regular hit with young visitors.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Buying books for my personal collection.

Career advice – what’s your top tip?

Be flexible. Consider moving to obtain the skills you want. All experience can be useful.

What useless skill(s) do you possess?

You never know when information is going to become useful. On holiday in 1995 in St. Petersburg, Russia, I impulsively intervened in a pit bull attack on an old woman’s dog. I used my fingers to plug the pit bull’s nostrils, knowing that the dog would eventually have to open its jaws to breathe. It worked and thankfully he didn’t turn on me. Afterwards I was shaking like a leaf, but my friends thought I was some kind of dog specialist.

Proudest moment in your professional life?

Watching a five year old boy determinedly sign his very first library card at the Courtenay Ref Desk.

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

Book hunting in a used bookstore. Playing with a cat or dog. Outside observing nature. Reading. On a road trip.

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

Suffering.

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

Continue acting the fool.

How do you stay current in your field?

I read blogs and LIS publications when I can and try to keep up to date through workshops and conferences. Sharing information and ideas with colleagues proves to be endlessly successful.

What would you like your headstone to read?

Can someone turn on a light, please? I can’t read down here.