[Sca-librarians] Fwd: From Uzbekistan to a Desk at the Library

[Scott Briggs]

One of my colleagues sent this to our library listserv (it is from today's 
NYT). I thought you all might enjoy it.

Cormac



>June 9, 2009...nytimes
>Experience Necessary
>
>
> From Uzbekistan to a Desk at the Library
>
>
>
>By 
><http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/ralph_blumenthal/index.html?inline=nyt-per>RALPH 
>BLUMENTHAL
>
>With 49,000 loans a month, the Queens Library at Broadway is a busy place 
>in the busiest <http://www.queenslibrary.org/>public library system in the 
>nation — circulating more books, tapes and videos (23 million a year) from 
>its 63 branches than its <http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/>Brooklyn 
>counterpart or the combined branches of the separate 
><http://www.nypl.org/>New York Public Library. The library, at 40-20 
>Broadway, where Astoria meets Long Island City, is scheduled to reopen 
>Wednesday after nine months of renovation. In charge is Tatyana 
>Magazinnik, 53, pianist, émigré from Uzbekistan and a librarian since 
>1996, like her husband, David.
>
>How she arranged the perfect name: It’s my husband’s name. It sounds like 
>“magazine,” but in Russian it means “store.” Maybe somebody wanted me to 
>be a librarian.
>
>Other parallels to “The Music Man”: I graduated from conservatory and was 
>teaching piano. I performed sometimes until my daughter was born. My 
>husband was a professor of piano in the Tashkent conservatory.
>
>Transplantation: When perestroika started, the future of our child was not 
>there. We came as refugees in 1993. My husband had a sister here. She 
>invited us. When we came to the country, we were looking for information. 
>We came to the library.
>
>Learning the language: My daughter didn’t know English well; I didn’t know 
>English. I was trying to teach her myself. The library was my life at the 
>time. We took out children’s books to hear that language. We learned 30 
>words a day. We memorized them, put them on the wall. The next day, 
>another 30 words. After half a year she didn’t need English as a second 
>language anymore. I learned with her. She just graduated from Vassar, Phi 
>Beta Kappa. The library was everything for us. We were in the library 
>every day, me and my husband.
>
>The making of a librarian (couple): We went to 
><http://sils.pratt.edu/>Pratt for library science. It took me two and a 
>half years, my husband two years — well, he didn’t sit with the child. I 
>graduated in 1996, and in August I got the job at the library in Lefrak 
>City. In ’99 I became manager of a small branch, in Maspeth. I loved 
>Maspeth. I still have customers that still send me cards at Christmastime.
>
>Biggest relief: Before I got this position, people told me all those 
>homeless people will come. I was starting to prepare myself so I’d be 
>ready for something disastrous. But fortunately I don’t see that many 
>problems. During the day they just sit there and read the newspaper.
>
>What she does, exactly: I make out a lot of reports, time sheets, 
>assignments to staff. Also work with customers. I’m still a librarian. My 
>office is in the children’s room. I call myself librarian. I like it. I 
>can go to 641.5 and get you a cookbook.
>
>Proudest moments: At Maspeth, there was a lady with no job. I would give 
>her books and talked to her, and after two months she said she got a job 
>and brought me flowers. So touching. I had a kid whose first book was a 
>graphic novel. He started to read every book. He became a writer. I had a 
>Russian customer who didn’t speak the language. She took an E.S.L. program 
>in the library. You don’t even pay for it. She went through two programs, 
>spring and fall. After that she got a job in Tiffany’s and then became a 
>secretary.
>
>What a librarian hates: People who don’t return books. I call them 
>book-keepers.
>
>How she keeps fit: I run four miles every day. I run my stairs at work. 
>It’s a free exercise machine.
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