Community Profiles As a teen, you may think a career sounds interesting, but are unsure of what background you need or what holding a job in the field is like.  The library's teen program is here to help.  This section features profiles from local community members in various professions who are willing to share their experience and advice. Featured Profile This month, Chris Gavin, your Cleveland-Bradley County Library's children's librarian, graciously agreed to be interviewed, so that teens would be able to learn more about her and about how to become a librarian at the same time.   Chris Gavin, known as Ms. Chris to children’s room visitors, says she has been a “Reader from day one –I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t.” Even so, she never planned to become a librarian. In college her major was anthropology, and after graduation she worked in a museum in Hawaii and planned to attend graduate school to go further in her field. But after getting married and raising children, her plans changed. After a move to Memphis, she decided to get her degree in library science. Her previous major was not a hindrance; in fact, apart from school librarians, who need an undergraduate degree in education, Chris says that library schools want many different types of backgrounds—“Not just English majors!” Because she attended school part-time, it took her three years to get her degree, though full-time students can finish in one or two. She took a variety of courses: a small sampling include children’s literature, library management, history of public libraries, cataloging and classification. Obviously, her courses included a lot of reading; “Young Adult Literature” alone had a required reading list of 70 novels.   She has worked in a hospital library as well as at the Arlington Developmental Center, managing the library for the professional staff. At the latter she was also able to begin developing a reading program for mentally challenged children. When she moved to Cleveland in 1986, she applied for a position at the public library, which was also when the library moved to its current location—“I’ve been here as long as the building’s been here,” she says.   A misconception is that librarians have a lot of leisure time. “You can’t just sit here and read,” Chris says. The children’s room is always in need of maintenance, whether it be shelving books or shelf-reading (checking the shelves to make sure everything is in proper order.) One duty that also takes a lot of time is selecting books for the collection. Her sources include Booklist and the School Library Journal. She looks for well-reviewed books and wants a wide range of nonfiction. She also takes into consideration the needs of the surrounding schools—she likes to have books on subjects that are “one step beyond what’s in the classroom.”   She describes her work as very pleasant. She is able to do a lot more programming than in other library departments, such as running the summer reading program, holding a limerick contest, or sponsoring a story-telling event. Also, she gets a lot of positive feedback. “It’s very rewarding to help kids,” she says, and she likes when she’s helped a student find materials and they return to her to say ‘I got an A on my report!’   Students who are interested in working in a library should get as much library experience as possible. They can also volunteer, for example, during the summer reading program, or with special events such as joining the Teen Advisory Board. Becoming familiar with computers never hurts, either—“Computers are terrific resources,” Chris says, adding that, “People are surprised to hear that. They think computers will make libraries obsolete.” But with fully one-third of the library’s collection of 30,000 children’s books checked out in October of this year, that’s obviously not the case.   If salary is important, “You’re not going to get wealthy being a librarian,” Chris laughs. But for those who love books and love working with children, being a children’s librarian is a good way to combine those interests. “Keep your options open,” Chris says. After all, while as a youth she may not have planned to become a librarian, that doesn't mean she doesn't love it now—because she definitely does.