Meet Mary Schiavone (BA,'18, history and English; MS, '23, Library and Information Science), a Student Success and Engagement Librarian at Beloit College. She initially enrolled at the University of Illinois as a business major but discovered her passion for history in HIST 170: U.S. History to 1877. Schiavone credits her history degree with strengthening her research and critical thinking skills, which prepared her to earn a Master's in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. Now a librarian at Beloit College, she takes on a variety of roles, from creating content for the library’s Instagram to teaching research skills. Read on for a Q&A with Schiavone to learn more about her career.
Why did you decide to pursue a degree in history?
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I started undergrad, so I came to the University of Illinois as a business major. I have always been a bit of a history nerd, but I honestly didn’t even consider it as a possible major. I took History 170 in my first semester and enjoyed my discussion section so much (thank you, David!!!) that I decided to make the switch pretty shortly after. In preparation for switching majors, I took History 200 with Dr. Dana Rabin, and that very quickly solidified that I did want to transfer and that history was a much wider field than I had originally imagined. I also added an English major to complement it, and I loved doing both.
Did you pursue higher education after undergrad?
Yes, I have my Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MSLIS ’23) from the University of Illinois. I did a bit of a non-traditional path through the program, as I started as a non-degree student first, then applied to the program full time. It was great because I was able to work full time for University of Illinois throughout.
My history program prepared me quite well for the MSLIS program. During my history degree, I developed research and critical thinking skills that served me well in graduate school. I also realized my passion for connecting people with resources and highlighting unheard voices and got to practice some of that work in undergrad.
What is your current career and how does your degree in history inform your work?
I am a Student Success and Engagement Librarian at Beloit College. Since I’m at a small college, I get to do basically all parts of librarianship to varying degrees. My primary focus is supporting students in finding whatever “success” means to them while they are at Beloit. I also do instruction for classes, one-on-one research appointments, social media, collection development, and programming and events. My history degree helped a lot in terms of understanding some of the things my students are facing when they come to the research process, and I think our history program gave me a lot of room to poke around and try things, which serves me well in my current work.
I am also the Federal Depository Coordinator at Beloit College, which means I work with our Government Documents collection and make sure we meet federal requirements, etc. Beloit became a federal depository library in 1888, so we have a very historically rich collection, and I am passionate about contextualizing these moments in US history and helping students tie them into their own work. My history degree is obviously very helpful in having these conversations, but my students do have a laugh with me that a (formerly) staunchly early modern British Royal Navy historian is doing American social and political history in this way.
What do you enjoy about your work?
I really love working with students, and I think getting to do so in a library setting is a great fit for me. I enjoy most parts of my work, but the two main areas I’ve been most excited about recently have been doing my own professional research and managing our library’s social media.
My research right now focuses on approachability in academic libraries, and the work I’m doing with our social media definitely ties into that. It’s really fun to not only have a good time making content with my coworkers, but also get to see students get excited about the content and bring it up after classes or stop by the library just to talk to us about it. Follow us on Instagram @beloitLITS if you want to see more of what I’ve been up to!
What does a typical workday look like for you? What is the most interesting aspect of your job?
There is no such thing a typical workday for me. Every time I think I have a semi-regular schedule, something new pops up, which is honestly a big part of why I like my job so much. In a typical week during the semester, I might be teaching basic research and source evaluation skills to a history class, running a session on developing your scholarly voice for a physics class, meeting with a handful of students to talk about their specific projects, doing administrative work like planning for events, researching social media trends, filming content, and participating in campus meetings with faculty and other staff. During breaks, the days are a lot more administrative, and I typically try to spend the time students are away from campus doing the behind-the-scenes work necessary so I can focus more on them when they are back.
What advice do you have for students interested in pursuing work in your field?
Find a way to work in a library/related setting before AND during graduate school. It’s very important to have a clear understanding of what you like (or don’t like) about libraries as you figure out your career path. I changed my career path at least 5 times by the time I finished my MSLIS, and it was for the best each time.
Also, talk to library workers. Many of us love to talk about our work or research and would get really excited if students reached out to us with questions. We’re also often really interconnected and can be pretty blunt about different approaches to librarianship, so I’d recommend trying to break out of your own bubble as you’re pursuing work in this field.
What is your proudest achievement?
That’s hard to answer, mostly because I get really excited about almost all of my work! Right now, I’d have to say I am proudest of the podcast I just launched with my colleague at Beloit: Librarians Spill the Tea (LSTT). It was something that started out mostly as a joke, but pretty quickly developed into a targeted way to engage our patrons. It still feels surreal sometimes that I get to be the kind of librarian I wasn’t even sure was real when I was in school—one who gets to make her corner of academia fun and accessible. The LSTT podcast feels like a good example of what that looks like in practice, so I feel quite proud of it.
by Eva Grein