Librarian proves stereotypes wrong with outgoing personality and dedication to progress.
RYAN HAGEN
News Assistant
Frail and dusty, stereotypical librarians are much more at home shushing students and hiding behind books than working with technology or people. They have no sense of humor and are not at all interesting.
Elizabeth Parang does not fit the stereotype of a librarian.
“Working with people is my favorite part,” said Elizabeth Parang, one of Pepperdine’s boundary-breaking librarians.
Parang is coordinator of serials, which puts her in charge of organizing and helping students with periodicals, microfilm and related databases. She accepted a job at Pepperdine 11 years ago because she preferred the small-library atmosphere to her position at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
“I wanted to go back to a smaller school again,” she said. “Larger schools don’t have as much variety and aren’t nearly as interesting.”
At UNLV, Parang’s job was overly specialized, even monotonous. Now, a typical day involves time at the reference desk helping students, instruction, responding to e-mails, solving problems with the library’s electronic resources, supervising and facilitating faculty book requests.
“I often end up doing something with microfilm,” she added. “It’s amazing how many students still need that to retrieve older newspapers or Christian periodicals only available on microfilm.”
An atypical day involves a girl getting stung by a wasp. “But most the time, things go quite smoothly,” Parang said. “We don’t have a lot of emergencies.”
That does not mean she finds herself twiddling her fingers.
“You never have enough time to do everything you’d like to,” said Parang, whose goals include cataloguing resources better to make them more accessible.
And she eagerly anticipates a library renovation. “It should make the public space much nicer,” she said, while acknowledging that it could be awhile.
“They’re working with the architects,” she said. “But you need to do this before you do this before you do this.”
Parang took her first library job in the late ‘60s, after a senior Girl Scout merit badge she earned in high school convinced Parang this was the job for her.
“Helping people out is very rewarding,” she said.
She also enjoys the challenges of her position. “Issues won’t show up. Why didn’t they come? I have to track the title, check catalogues . . . there’s a lot of detective work with serials.”
At the same time, the ability to see her progress as she works encourages her.
Considering this combination, it may not be surprising that she’s an avid reader of mysteries.
“I like books by Sue Grafton, P.D. James, Walter Mosley, and Tony Hillerman,” she said, then smiled. “And, of course, things about libraries. I’m always trying to keep up with technology.”
When not working, Parang serves as president of Friends of the Calabasas Library, gardens and spends time with family.
Occasionally she travels to Pasadena to see the Huntington Museum, but traffic and tasks keep her from going often.
“Sometimes I’ll stay at my desk rather then get stuck in traffic,” she admitted. Working at least 40 hours a week is not enough, though, as there’s always something to learn.
“The most difficult part is dealing with change. Things always change, and it’s always a challenge to find time to learn the new things,” she said.
Technology has changed drastically since she first became a librarian, Parang said, with much more available electronically. New databases are added frequently, videos are converted to DVD, and CDs are converted to a streamed database.
The very idea of a library seems to be changing. “You can stay home in your pajamas and research. Last year I helped some girls in Florence by IM,” Parang said.
But she said she is glad to see students keep visiting, whether to study, work in groups, seek help from librarians or just avoid their dorm.
“And we check out a lot of books,” she added. “Apparently, people are still reading books.”
10-26-2006