Over the summer, iSchool alumna Beth Jones made the move from Milledgeville, GA to Swainsboro to begin her new position as the Library Director for East Georgia State College. She was previously the Reference and Instruction Librarian for Georgia Military College. For Jones, there seems to be no typical day in the office. The best part of being at a rural, academic college she explains, is getting to cultivate meaningful relationships with students. “Usually, I have at least one student come in the library asking for me because they feel comfortable asking me for help for a variety of topics such as academic research help to computer assistance to which teacher I think they would do better with for a class,” she says.

Before getting her MLIS, Jones worked for Barnes and Noble where she got to visit libraries and host author events. This piqued her interest in pursuing a career in libraries. She later received a graduate assistantship with Goldstein library and then Strozier Library while at FSU. “I feel like working in these libraries are what set my path to working in an academic library setting. I loved teaching the classes and working with students at the reference desk,” she says.

Being at Georgia Military College solidified that small, academic libraries are where Jones feels most at home she explains. In her new position at East Georgia State, Jones hopes to listen to current staff members to see what improvements they feel need to be made and then advocate for them. She is excited to bring about beneficial change in her new role. After settling in, she hopes to go back to school and finish her MBA that she put on pause several years ago. “I feel as the Library Director an MBA will help me even more,” she says.