Natalie Lopez provides tours, teaches classes, and constantly promotes the many services of the Palomar College Library\/Learning Resource Center (LRC). About the new building, she says, \u201cI\u2019ve heard nothing but wonderful things from our students.\u201d<\/p>\n
SAN MARCOS \u2014 When she walked into the new library at Palomar College for the first time, Natalie Lopez couldn\u2019t stop smiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was breathtaking,\u201d she recalled of that first glimpse, months before the library opened to students. \u201cI walked into the lobby and just pictured myself helping the students at the reference desk. Even when the boxes were still packed, I was seeing the picture beyond the boxes, envisioning how the students were going to define the space.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Outreach Librarian at Palomar College, a large part of Lopez\u2019s job is to help students learn to navigate the library and use the resources that it provides\u2014a responsibility that has taken on unique proportions this semester, with the move into a brand new space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a term\u2014it\u2019s called \u2018library anxiety.\u2019 Students may walk in and feel afraid to approach the desk,\u201d she explained \u201cSo we\u2019re always friendly and approachable. Every question is a good question.\u201d<\/p>\n
In many ways, it seems Lopez was destined to end up in a library.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was a librarian for 35 years in the L.A. County Library system, and my dad and mom met in a library, so it definitely runs in the family\u2014a love of books and a love of reading,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lopez started her career as a page at the Huntington Library in San Marino, a popular destination for scholars working on postdoctoral research. Then she spent nine years working as a librarian at Cal Poly Pomona.<\/p>\n
While at Cal Poly, \u201cSomebody told me, \u2018You have a natural talent for outreach,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what that was, but I quickly learned it was about promoting the wonderful resources that libraries have to help students succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez knew she wanted to become a faculty librarian, teaching and working in a library at the same time. She earned her M.A. in Library Science from San Jose State University in 2008 and, in 2016, came to Palomar as an Assistant Professor and Outreach Librarian.<\/p>\n
At Palomar, she provides \u201cone-shot\u201d instruction, training classes on how to use library resources to write a research paper for English class, for example. She also teaches in the Library Information Technology program, training students who themselves plan to go on to careers in libraries.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstruction doesn\u2019t just take place in the classroom\u2014it also takes place at our reference desks, so I fulfill reference duties, as well,\u201d she said. \u201cI wear many hats, and I love the adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"