In the Spirit of Enlightenment

An Interview with Cindy Kelly

By April Galarza

Excerpt from original article

Libraries bring all sorts of images to mind. They come in all shapes and sizes and there is as least one library in every community in the United States.  A library can consist of anything from a one-room building overflowing with rickety old bookshelves to a grandiose, museum-like building many city blocks wide.  Librarians come in all shapes and sizes too, and each specializes in one of the many different aspects that help keep order to the amazing living mission of the library.  Not unlike temples of old, librarians have a tireless toil to keep safe the archives of our pasts, the volumes of books that contain all the magnificent discoveries and deeds of our peoples.  Periodical Librarian Cindy Kelly has opened the sacred gates to give us a peak into the world of a librarian.

Cindy Kelly was not always a librarian, but around thirty she decided she needed a change.  She had always been a proponent of education, (before becoming a librarian she taught high school) she just needed a more universal forum. 

“Well, I am a Chicago person. I haven’t gotten very far from it in my life.  I graduated with my bachelors from St. Xavier University.  I got my masters in Library Science from Dominican University. It just seemed to be a nice sort of job, but I will tell you that it is totally different when you are actually working in the job than what it looks like from the outside.  We don’t have a lot of time to read.  We’re so busy managing and using materials for reference that we never really just sit down, and we’re much to busy to read.  The other thing is, it’s actually pretty hectic in a library.  There is a lot going on while we try to maintain that lovely peaceful atmosphere.  There is a lot behind the scenes.  We constantly review policies and procedures to make sure we have everything right.”

It was not surprising to hear that the women who most inspire Cindy Kelly are her coworkers and teenage employees. 

“The women who have most inspired me are the librarians here. I could name several of the people here, while they may be the same age as I or got into the field earlier.  They are so professional, and they inspired me so much.  I learned so much from them: to be conscientious, to do your best, and to give 110%.  The workers continue to inspire and amaze me.  They are just super. As far as personal role models, I’ve had to go it alone.  My mother died when I was 9 and my father died when I was 21.  

“One thing that truly inspires me is when we hire young people.  The teenage and college age types turn over quickly because they move on.  This isn’t their career, just a phase in their lives. However, they seem to treasure working here nearly as much as we do.  I am just amazed at the super young people we’ve managed to attract to the library.  That inspires me because you hear all these stories and sometimes we even see kids behaving pretty badly, and yet the young men and women who work for us are the highest caliber ethically.  This gives me hope.” 

Young people are important to Cindy Kelly.  She is especially worried about the messages most magazines targeted to the age group.

“There is one area that doesn’t get appropriately modeled in the majority of the periodicals targeted at them. This is the niche of the young, pre-mature woman, girls from 13-24. If you look at the magazines that target this group, they model mostly empty values.  Topics such as sex appeal, with an emphasis on the perfection of physical appearance, and the importance of acquiring material things are largely out numbered by magazines that discuss self image, goals, and aspirations of young women beyond the realms of fashion, dating, and dieting.  When they speak about relationships, for the most part they focus mainly on the sexual dimension, and not on building health relationships.