As my last day at the Albertsons Library came to a close yesterday, I thought about the people I have had the pleasure of working with, as well as the building itself. I have helped with the stewardship of various materials under that roof, and will miss every single book and database. As a student employee, I spent countless hours taking trucks up to the stacks and put them way, as well as shelf-reading call numbers to ensure the materials were in their proper place.

When I earned my undergraduate and my work study job terminated, I missed the stacks and overseeing the student employees. It wasn't just the job itself; it was that I was helping patrons, perhaps in a small way, to ensure that they find the materials they needed. It was also helping students become better employees through guidance and assistance at the circulation desk. The folks I worked with in the department helped influence my decision to become a librarian.

My next job when I returned to the library was with the institutional repository. I will miss ScholarWorks very, very much. I would not be nearly as tech savvy as I am today if I had not worked on this project, nor would I have chosen the specific path that I did in regard to my masters program. The department is a small one, only three of us, but I feel that we made an impact with our work on campus. I had the privilege to be there to celebrate half a million full text downloads, and will look forward to them hitting one million.

My work with acquisitions and interlibrary loan has also helped me with various skills, and again I worked with amazing people. I also became more familiar with ebooks and, as a result, I'm more apt to purchase them for myself, as well as check them out from a library. Using a patron-based acquisitions model also falls more into my way of thinking about customer/patron service. Get them what they want, especially in a timely manner, and they are more willing to come back and use the institution again.

I will miss you, Albertsons Library. Thank you for everything.