Passionate about technology and artistic expression, GSLIS alumna Taylor Kirch finds inspiration at Pandora, where she uses her skills to bring music to the world.
Where do you work and what is your role?
I work at Pandora as a music librarian on the Curation team. At Pandora, we enable people to discover music they love. Behind the scenes at Curation, that means finding music and making it available to our listeners. I work closely with our curators to ingest and validate new music as they acquire it. My primary role is collection management, including overall library and metadata maintenance. I also work on projects devoted to improving our metadata framework by creating information architecture, and taxonomies, and detailing content management features for our internal systems.
What do you like best about your job?
The culture, the people, and the vision. It’s inspiring to walk into a building where you are encouraged to grow as an individual and be yourself, while working toward a rewarding goal: bringing music to the world. Based in Oakland, Pandora is conscious of its role in the technology industry and gives back to the community it has been a part of since the start. I also get to work with some of the most interesting and talented people I’ve ever met. I work with people from a variety of backgrounds, from DJs and classical musicians to fellow librarians and data scientists. It’s been a growing experience thus far, and I’m really honored to be a part of it.
How did GSLIS help you get to where you are today?
Knowledge. Experience. Growth. I have a background in literature and philosophy, but came into GSLIS as a budding technologist. My initial interest in information science was philosophical, becoming interested after taking a variety of philosophy of language and programming courses. I’m interested in how we perceive and translate information through various mediums and how that affects our understanding of the world. GSLIS provided me with the practical skills to pursue librarianship and information science as a career.
What advice would you like to share with GSLIS students?
Have an open mind. Be accepting of other people’s ideas, mindsets, and backgrounds. A library and information science degree can open up your world to some valuable opportunities in seemingly disparate careers or industries. At GSLIS, you’ll meet people who are interested in conservation and preservation, fan fiction, data mining, community librarianship, semantic technologies, UX design, you name it. Just because someone’s interested in either technology or restoring ancient texts, doesn’t mean you don’t have anything in common! Information theory shows us the deeper connection between the digital and the analog as mediums of the same underlying themes of information transfer and knowledge. Be open to that diversity and see it as an opportunity to learn from your peers.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I’m into the local art and music scene here in Oakland, and I spend most of my time trying to contribute to that movement, either by supporting local art and music events or by creating art myself. My current art project involves embroidering esoteric symbolism as wall art or patches under the name Lady Eldritch. You can find me on the first Friday of the month showcasing my artwork at #ArtMurmur #FirstFriday #Oakland.
I also am, for lack of a better term, an entrepreneur. My husband and I have a technology and design company together, and are focused on UX design, web and mobile applications, and content management. We work closely with archives, publishers, digital content providers, and media companies. Our internal projects are more based around new media, community art, and conscious technology. Being new to the area, we are exploring the art and design scene and are looking forward to contributing and participating in any way we can.
What’s next for you?
Pandora. Music. Art. Embroidery. One day, I would love to open a brick and mortar set-up, be it an event space, maker space, art and music studio, or storefront. That’s been my dream for as long as I can remember, and I hope it comes true someday soon! In the meantime, you can find me hanging out in Oakland and rocking out at Pandora.