Wanting to understand, wanting to know more, wanting to help make things better. These are desires that few people consider unimportant or trivial. Yet figuring out where or how to start a search for these answers can be the hardest part of any task.

Growing up a in a rural logging town in Washington State during an economic recession offered me little to do, and with few resources to aid intellectual development. The public school systems in our county were underfunded and most of my schoolmates figured a job at the local paper mill -- which was already beginning its never-ending cycle of layoffs -- was inevitable. But one rainy day in 1987 I entered the town's public library, stepped up to a green-screen terminal, and got to work on figuring out where to begin.

Many years later, in 2005, I applied to UW's iSchool hoping that I could return the favor my hometown’s public library afforded me. Prior to to applying I had worked in an array of academic libraries and had come to understand their centrality to intellectual development. Perhaps what motivated me to apply was the knowledge that the public library in my hometown was under threat of closure. I knew I had to help somehow. I thought that by becoming a librarian I could prevent the undervalued appreciation many people had for libraries -- that I could help to stem the "Why do we need a library when we have the Internet?" questions.

Now, with one last quarter to go, I find myself employed as a corporate librarian in a design firm. This may seem far afield from my goals of advocating for public libraries. Not so. It's just the beginning. You’ll see.