Hi. :)

My name is Sam Crisp.
I'm here to tell you why you should pick me to be SILS' representative to ALA's Student to Staff Program. First, here's a little background on me: 

I am a first year SILS student pursuing the ARM concentration. I currently work in Wilson Library's Research and Instructional Services department on the fourth floor.

I am from Bryson City, North Carolina, which is a tiny town in the Western North Carolina mountains. Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of it. Neither has anyone else, except the people involved with this movie, which was filmed near there, starring many of my neighbors:

I went to Carolina as an undergrad as well, majoring in music and history. I've loved every minute of the almost five years I've been here.

I like baking and shopping and playing with my dog. And I love SILS.

My dog. Seriously how could you not love playing with him?

Now that we've met, let me tell you why I'd be perfect for ALA's Student to Staff.

I love librarianship.

I know, I know. Obviously I love librarianship or I wouldn't have gone to grad school for it. But I really do. I have for a long time. I've worked in some sort of library for 5 straight years now, a lot longer than many typical SILS students. I decided I wanted to be a librarian my first year of college, and I haven't looked back since.

Consequently, I'm a member of a lot of library organizations, including ALA. See? Here's my membership card.

I'm also a member of SAA, NCLA and UNC's Student Library Advisory Board, and I come to SCALA events whenever possible. I'm the incoming president of our Student Chapter of the Society of American Archivists and chair of the Electronic Resources Committee of the Society of North Carolina Archivists. Clearly I want to show a demonstrated commitment to the library science field or I wouldn't have sacrificed so many cool things to pay my membership dues for all of these organizations.

In my time working in libraries, I've come across some pretty crazy patrons. So much so that I even started a blog about them early in my senior year of college. Here's an example of one of the sillier interactions I had with a patron.

Did you look at that link? Patrons, right? RIGHT? Nonetheless, I still love my job. I really love my job. I couldn't see myself doing anything else, and I want to take every opportunity I can to submerge myself deeper into the work of librarianship.

I'm a hard worker.

Frankly, I love working. I love working jobs, I love working on projects, and I'm extremely eager to please. I just generally love being a helpful person.

I got my first job when I turned 14, and I've been working nonstop ever since. I have never wanted to take any time off from working a job, not even when I first got to college.

I especially love helping people. I have worked in the service industry for 9 years now, and almost 5 of those have been in a library. I've always wanted to try and make a difference, no matter what it is I'm working on. Consequently, I can sometimes even go a little overboard when I'm working.

I like to take a lot of personal responsibility for my work, and I pride myself on always offering the best service possible. I'm a strong, independent, motivated person and I strive to live up to the best standards when I'm working on a project.

I'm a team player.

That said, I am also great at working cooperatively with other people. I ask for help when I need to and I am eager to help others.

I know that if I'm chosen to be SILS' representative, I will be able to adapt quickly to being outside my comfort zone and work with the other students without difficulty. I have been in similar situations many times before. 

For example, when I began working in Wilson this semester, I had absolutely no idea how an archive worked.

I didn't know what R&I's purpose was, I thought I'd never learn the names of the 239471230956 people who work in Wilson, and I was a bit timid about enforcing the strict rules of the reading room. But I immediately made a reputation for myself as the one who asks questions, gets involved, and cooperates in order to tackle something new to me.  

Within a very short time, I felt confident enough to delegate our undergraduate assistants and take on more difficult reference projects, thanks to my ability to work well with my supervisor and colleagues. Now I'm a pro at enforcing the rules.

I reallyreallyreally want to go to ALA.

ALA. Let's be real here. It's going to be great. Like powdered doughnut pancake surprise great. Greater even than this:

It's going to be a fantastic opportunity to network, learn new things, and really dig into my career. I'm so incredibly excited about getting started as an information professional, and I want to take every possible opportunity to broaden my horizons while I'm in school. 

But, well, I'm poor. Frankly, I will probably never be able to afford to get myself to an ALA conference, at least not while I'm a student. When it comes down to ALA or my dog's ear medicine, unfortunately ALA is going to lose.

Therefore I would be eternally grateful for this incredible opportunity to go to ALA at no cost, not to mention a stipend to offset my transportation costs. I would be ecstatic about working the conference to give something back to ALA and SILS for providing me with this opportunity.

So here's the bottom line...

I love SILS. I love libraries. I love the patrons I work with, even the particularly annoying ones. I love our community, both the UNC community and the international community built around our profession. 

I would really love to be SILS' Student-to-Staff representative. I want to give something back, and I want to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. I'm eager to put myself out there and get started working in the field, and this program sounds like the perfect way to get started. 

I can't afford to get to ALA myself, so this program is essentially my last resort. At least while I'm a student. It would mean everything to me if I could go. Also, on a completely selfish level, I've never been to Chicago, and I may never get another chance to go. And I was a music major. Hello, jazz capital of the northern US?

So please consider me for this position. I know I'm the best woman for the job. I would really love the chance to prove that to you too!