For master’s student Catherine Mardula, librarianship is the family business. She’s following in the footsteps of her mother, an iSchool alumna, as well as her aunt and grandmother, all of whom are librarians. Catherine is pursuing special collections librarianship and—thanks to her Alternative Spring Break experience at the University of St. Andrews—cataloging.
Why did you decide to pursue an LIS degree?
Throughout my academic life, I have had the good fortune of being surrounded by very smart people doing very interesting things. In this type of environment, it is hard not to envy librarians for the unique way they participate in an institution’s intellectual community. While they may specialize in a field for their own research, they are constantly contributing to a wider and more diverse body of scholarship through the students and faculty they work with. The opportunity to bring creative problem solving to my longtime interest in the humanities in such a collaborative, interdisciplinary way was what first drew me to LIS.
While I like to think I had some control over my fate, there is also the fact that I inherited the gene for librarianship from my mother’s side, and resistance was futile. Fortunately, an LIS degree can combine with all kinds of interests, and that has given each of the librarians in my family the partial illusion of free will. So far there’s no overlap: my grandma worked at a community college, my aunt works at a high school, and my mom works at an elementary school. And now, me—the rebel going into special collections!
Why did you choose the iSchool at Illinois?
My mom, Patty Mardula (MS ’12), was a student in the program while I was in college. My dreams for the future were still up in the air, but I developed a positive impression of the program early on based on her experience. In particular, I thought it was great that the Leep option allowed students to pursue an LIS education online or part time without having to put the rest of their lives or careers on hold. By the time I thought I might be interested in the family business, the choice was an easy one!
What particular LIS topics interest you most?
I have recently become very interested in cataloging, thanks to a great experience with the Alternative Spring Break program this past year. I worked with Daryl Green (MS ’10), a librarian and rare book cataloger at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. When we agreed on cataloging as our focus for the week, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it ended up being one of the best experiences of my LIS education. Two of the highlights of my trip were learning basic MARC from the “Lighting the Past” team and joining them in their goal to bring the department’s backlog of uncataloged material to zero, and spending an afternoon with Daryl as he talked me through the process of creating a full-level DCRM(B) record using an early printed book that had just arrived from an auction. I could not have imagined a more wonderful introduction to the field, and I absolutely recommend taking advantage of this unique program at the iSchool.
What do you do outside of class?
I live in Hyde Park in Chicago with my family, which consists of my wife, Jen, our pet cat, and our pet bearded dragon. I’m currently taking more classes than usual with the hope of finishing my degree in August, so admittedly there hasn’t been a lot of time for much else this summer! However, on a normal day off, my activities of choice are exploring the city or excitedly planning my next trip.
What career plans or goals do you have?
Based on my background in Classics and oddly indiscriminate excitement about most of European history, my goal since starting graduate school has been to work in an academic or special collections library where I can tie that in—through either the collection at the institution, the languages I’m using, or the students I’m working with. I’ll be quite happy if cataloging ends up being a part of that!