While Marin Dell (M.S. ’05) was attending law school out in California, she knew that she wanted to be a law librarian. She worked full-time at a law firm while earning her J.D. and always told her supervisor, an electronic services librarian, that she wished she had her job. She fulfilled this dream in the moment by working for her school’s law library. However, she realized that getting an MLIS was the next step in her career path, and she knew that Florida State was the place to do it.
She shares, “I left California for grad school at Florida State right after being sworn in by the California Bar and I’ve never regretted it.”
After earning her MLIS, Dell worked as a research librarian for the FSU Law Research Center for two years and went on to earn a degree in Management Information Systems from FSU and a Specialist degree in Law Librarianship from what was then the College of Information.
Dell explains, “Being a part of the FSU Law Research Center as a law librarian for so many years was a life-changing experience and I thank all the librarians and staff who were examples to me. The lessons I learned there I will remember for a lifetime.”
Today, Dell is the head of digital and electronic services at the Texas Tech School of Law Library. Her job involves a mix of technology, instruction and public service duties, and she is in charge of the library’s institutional repository and electronic databases. Because her position is a tenure-track faculty position, it additionally involves responsibilities such as extensive publishing and service to the students, law school and community. She is also involved in faculty research and teaching 1L and upper-level specialty research courses.
In addition to all of this, Dell is the administrator of ScHOLAR, Texas Tech Law School’s institutional repository, and has been a part of the open access initiative among law schools.
Dell says, “Open access to scholarship in all disciplines is a cause that I believe in. What was once hidden and inaccessible except by inter-library loan and subscription databases is now freely available to anyone with an Internet connection. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
In her spare time, Dell enjoys reading, traveling and attending hockey games. She’s always interested in finding attractions that are off the beaten path, and she is working on a goal of visiting every NHL arena in the U.S. and Canada.
To learn more about Florida State’s MLIS program, follow this link.