By KAYLA DEMICCO
Opinions Editor
In her first professional job at The College of Saint Rose’s Neil Hellman Library, Young-In Kim became the Access Services and Assessment Librarian and Library Faculty last summer in July. Upon starting her new job, she noticed that there were a lot of structural issues and lack of space for all the books acquired within the library. Kim made plans for summer 2018 to fix this issue by shifting shelves and weeding books, or removing old books out of the library’s collection. To improve the accessibility of the books for patrons with mobility issues, she has plans to tackle the awkward arrangement of the books in the basement by the movable shelves.
“[I] want to make sure everyone gets what they need [and] I’m excited about that,” said Kim.
Before becoming a part of the Saint Rose faculty last year, Kim had just completed her graduate degree in Library Science at Syracuse University two months before starting her new position. Even though she has been working in the academic library field for about 15 years now as a library assistant, this position at the Neil Hellman Library is her first time being a professional librarian.
Library Director for the Neil Hellman Library Drew Urbanek knew Kim would be a good fit for Saint Rose because she had all the right kinds of experience and qualifications. He said that Kim is “funny, mellow, whip smart but not arrogant about it, and willing to try things even if they ultimately aren’t the right way.”
Kim’s reach goes beyond the library. Liz Richards, Assistant Professor of Communications, is working with Kim in relation to the upcoming 7th annual Student Film Festival, previously known as 15 Minutes Max. Richards asked Kim if she wanted to be a judge for the film festival.
“I am often looking to broaden the jury beyond the typical departments affiliated with film, and I knew Kim to be an energetic and positive person with eclectic interests, which I thought would serve our festival well,” said Richards.
While Kim was working at various library positions across the country in the 1990s, she found herself to be drawn into the way librarians go about their lives. Before joining the Saint Rose faculty, Kim worked at the Massachusetts College for Liberal Arts in North Adams from 2014-2017, near her home in the Berkshires. At Massachusetts College for Liberal Arts, it was her first time being a unionized worker. One position she had on campus was to be in charge of the Special Collections and Archives. In that position, she had the opportunity to deal with rare books and other items in the college’s archives.
“Working in that department really drew me to libraries in general. I had always been a lifetime lover of libraries. But finally getting a chance to work in [one] is what sparked the desire,” said Kim.
Before that, she lived in Pennsylvania and Indiana, where she worked in libraries. Prior to all the traveling across the country, she started her life’s journey in California. Throughout all of these states, she traveled the country with her husband’s teaching job until they settled in the Berkshires when he obtained a tenure job.
While in California, she stayed in her hometown, Long Beach, until she left college. While at California State University, she didn’t participate in any clubs, sport, or extracurricular activities, as she went to a university with about 36,000 students and it didn’t feel personal. She felt very disconnected from the campus since she commuted all four years and she didn’t like her major. She was planning on becoming a museum tour guide so she majored in art history, and she graduated in 2001.
Kim’s parents immigrated from South Korea, and her mother encouraged her to read. As a child in the 1980s, her mother had only been in the United States for a handful of years and her English was limited. This made it difficult for Kim and her brother get a handle on the language. By the time she reached kindergarten, Kim was already spending a lot of time at the library.
When coming to the Saint Rose campus, she liked that it was a small campus and that “you’re able to build a better sense of community.”
“I like to be in places where there’s lots of different people. I want a good mix of race, gender, sexuality, religion, political point of view. I like diversity and I feel like in Albany, you get that,” said Kim.
Kim works with Shai Butler to enhance diversity at Saint Rose on the Inclusive Excellence Committee. This committee is interested in diversity and inclusion issues on campus.
“It’s important for a college campus in general for the staff and faculty to reflect the demographics of the students because representation matters. Students wants to see people that look like them,” said Kim.
To make the library field more diverse, Kim wants to go into Library Administration to become a Library Director. While she likes Albany at the moment, she would have to go to different campus in order to fulfill that goal. While it’s only a small thought in her head, she said that the challenges that would come with the job is what would drive her to succeed.
