Academic librarians are unique beings in the academic world. We are faculty, we publish (or perish), and though we may or may not have PhDs, we do have (at least) two Masters degrees. We come from all disciplines, work histories, and neighborhoods (not just Brooklyn). We are outliers, in a sense, and, in general, we embrace that.
Popular culture research is also a unique entity in the academy. While popular culture studies is a vast umbrella and can be found in a variety of disciplinary homes – anthropology, American studies, media & communications, cultural studies, comp lit, etc. – it’s usually a niche hidden in or overlapped by or subsumed by a larger subject area. There exist rigorous and serious popular culture studies programs, all the way up through the doctoral level, at many universities around the country. But in most places, pop culture scholars are outliers. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that a fair number of academic librarians are found in this eclectic space.
You will find librarians all over CUNY who are much more than their Masters in Library Science degrees. For some, our MLS is our primary identity and that is the area where we publish. For others, the library part is our job – which we tend to love, on the whole – but our professional passion lies in our “other” Masters discipline, or somewhere else altogether. The next time you run into an academic librarian, after you’ve asked your reference question and gotten an answer, ask them, “What’s your second Masters in?” or “What’s your research area?” You might be surprised and delighted. And so will the librarian.
In this conversation, I talked with two of my CUNY librarian colleagues – Vikki Terrile, Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College and Stephanie Margolin, Associate Professor and librarian at Hunter College – about their popular culture journeys in the academy.
Related:
- “Your TV Small-Talk Is Ruining Dinner Parties” by Dan Engber
- More pop culture and librarians on “Musicking Motherhood” in Episode 86.
- A longer account from one particular librarian about her enduring relationship with TV: From Rabbit Ears to the Rabbit Hole: A Life with Television (U Press of Mississippi, 2021)
- Stephanie was a guest on Indoor Voices in August 2018.
Listen to Episode 90 now!
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