Since receiving her MLIS from San Jose State University in 2008, Kaitlyn Means has continued to work for the San Diego Zoo Library, where she started as an assistant librarian in 2007. Here Kaitlyn takes us behind the scenes, as she tells us what it’s like to be an information professional in a very special environment.
A member of the San Diego Chapter of SLA since 2006, Kaitlyn currently is lending a hand to help maintain and do research in the chapter's archives during her free time. Regarding the benefits she receives from her SLA membership, Kaitlyn says "It's great that SLA-SD has so many affordable seminars and networking events."
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Kaitlyn Means feeds a small-clawed otter.
Talking with Kaitlyn Means about serving as an info pro for the zoo
1. How did you land a position as a librarian for the San Diego Zoo?
I've always loved the zoo, and fell in love with the library on a tour of the Beckman Center when the building first opened. As soon as I walked into the Rare Book Room and inhaled that rich, pulpy old book smell and laid hands on the rhino horn, I knew I wanted to work there someday. I told the person giving the tour, "I want your job," and I meant it. Shortly after starting library school, I contacted the zoo to start volunteering at the library. The fates aligned, and after I'd been volunteering for them once a week for a year or so, there was an opening for an assistant librarian. I still had a little under a year of library school left to finish, but luckily they didn't mind and offered me the job. At that point, since they already knew I was capable of the job and desperately wanted it, the interview process was just a formality.
2. What exactly do you do for the zoo?
The library serves the entire Zoological Society of San Diego (ZSSD), which includes the San Diego Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, the Institute for Conservation Research and the Harter Vet Hospital, as well as various administrative offices and other departments strewn across San Diego County, not to mention conservation field workers across the globe. By far the most difficult aspect of what we do is trying to balance the collection to equally serve all ZSSD staff members and departments. The library is a bit sequestered since it's located in Escondido at the institute, so we try to have enough of an online presence to overcome the geographic hurdles, while functioning within the budget of a small nonprofit.
My job consists of cataloging new materials; managing our online databases, print and electronic serial subscriptions; paying the bills; interlibrary loans; and just generally managing the physical collection and our website. I also respond to reference requests directed to me from ZSSD staff and affiliates, and am always on the look-out for information that will be helpful to our staff. I also have a hand in our acquisitions and budget, since I'm lucky enough to have a director who values my input and includes me in the library's strategic planning.
And of course, I supervise our volunteers and occasional interns, and try to fit in my pet projects when there's time. So far, those have consisted of putting a staff article database with PDFs on our website, conducting a survey of zoo and wildlife libraries, and migrating our VHS collection into the 21st century. In the future, I plan to convert our system to an open-source ILS like Evergreen or Koha, and I'm in the process of switching our archives catalog over to Archon, a free, Web-based archives application.
3. What kinds of amazing animal encounters have you had on the job?
Let's see... I've had the opportunity to meet up-close, pat or feed, in the course of my job so far, a ratel, serval, okapi, kangaroo, sea lion, kookaburra, koala, cheetah, elephant and baby lion and giraffes. I'm probably forgetting some. I've also volunteered for Nurtured by Nature, a nonprofit run by one of the ZSSD keepers, so I recently met a three-toed sloth, fennec fox, paca, armadillo, wallaby and baby tamandua, as well as kangaroos, pole cats, baby small-clawed otters and some others. Not surprisingly, my off-the-job hobbies are also animal-related. I love to travel and do photography, and I'm planning a trip later this year to Manu National Park in Peru, where I'm hoping to see jaguars, tapirs, sloths and hundreds of bird and reptile species in the wild.
4. Was your decision to drive a Harley related to your job?
In a way, it was. I bought the bike (a 2001 Buell Blast) while I was working at the Museum of Photographic Arts library and living near Balboa Park in 2006. It was a bit too far to walk quickly enough, but not far enough away to justify driving a car, and parking at Balboa Park was sometimes a challenge. Plus, I'd always wanted a motorcycle. While I was volunteering once a week at the zoo library in Escondido, it was nice to ride up there, since the bike saves gas and can go in the carpool lane. On the day I signed papers to start my current job full-time, my car spun out in the rain on the highway and then was in the shop for many weeks, so I rode the motorcycle full-time 70 miles or so round-trip each day until I finally moved to Escondido to be closer to work. Plus, since I spend most of my time squirreled away in the library, cataloging furiously, I don't get a chance to socialize much with my colleagues. If people know who I am, they're more likely to come to the library to have their questions answered, so being the Girl With the Pink Motorcycle might make them remember me more.
5. What tips can you offer other info pros seeking jobs in the zoo industry?
Well, for those interested in learning more about zoo libraries in general, we're putting together an updated article with results from last summer's survey that went to zoo libraries worldwide. I’ve put the results on our website as well. You'll note that only 16 of the libraries that responded have full-time, professional librarians, and the survey was conducted before news of the recession caused many zoos to slash their budgets. So, it's clearly a challenging, specialized field to break into.
Special librarians are flexible though, and we have such varied skillsets; the key to breaking into any new area is adaptability. It's important to be able to work within very widely ranging budget requirements, work with people with varying technological skill levels, and learn quickly about any number of topics. I'm good at my job because, like so many solo or special librarians, I can do a little bit of everything. If I don't know how to do something, I know I can learn. Zoo librarians are a very self-directed, self-sufficient bunch of info pros by necessity.
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Interview conducted and written by Daria DeCooman