DIANE JOHNSON
Bibliographic Searcher
UGA Libraries
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES: “I assist music patrons, students, faculty and staff with music reference questions and the location of materials; I compile the bibliographic information for ordering music materials; I see if requests from faculty and students are available for ordering; and ‘other duties as assigned.’ ”
A TYPICAL DAY: “Chaos. The fun part is the enjoyment of the staff. They have great humor. I’ve seen people come and go but regardless of who comes and goes, we’ve always had a great staff. That’s the pleasure of it. I enjoy the combination of reference and research and I love working with students, I always have; it keeps your mind young.”
MOST REWARDING PART OF MY JOB: “The people. Just having contact with the (music) staff and the whole library. The library and individuals have come through and helped me when I needed support. The positive reinforcement I’ve always gotten from everyone here-it’s more than just a working environment, its colleagues and families combined.”
MOST CHALLENGING PART OF MY JOB: “Answering music reference questions. You have to know the materials, know the library and know where to go. Ordering is a different, technical type of challenge. You have to know how to order pieces of scores-vocal, full or conductor scores, for example.”
IF I WASN’T DOING THIS JOB, I WOULD MOST LIKE TO: “When I retire at the end of this month, I look forward to having more free time-not to be idle- but to do things I consider productive. I can’t perform musically any more, but I would like to become involved in a community choir or something. I love the outdoors; I love animals; I love to read; I’m active in my church. I would like to be contributing more to other people.”
OFF-THE JOB INTEREST: “Music-I was born for it. My mother, an accomplished guitarist, steered me toward music and in the 7th grade I joined the band.
I could improvise before I could read music. I was playing in faculty jazz bands in the 7th grade. I was still learning to read music, but I was in the faculty band.”
FAVORITE MUSIC: “Classical. I love listening to and playing classical music. I love jazz, but I don’t care for some of the modern jazz sounds.”
A BOOK I’D RECOMMEND TO OTHERS: “The Bible because in it you can find so many things about life itself-even without the religious belief- and how it applies to you. It might make your life better; it may even help you with some problem solving in life.”
THE PERSON I ADMIRE MOST: “My mother, who reared me by herself. She was a very strong person and extremely intelligent and she was way ahead of her time. She was a feminist but she didn’t alienate people even when she was waking them up to certain causes. She taught me to stand up for my beliefs. She taught me strong discipline, which helped me when I was sick. She was a survivor and she taught me to be a survivor.”
THE ISSUE THAT CONCERNS ME MOST ABOUT TODAY’S WORLD: “The way we treat each other, and the way we treat the world in which we live. As a people, we don’t always stand up for what we believe in. There is a lack of respect, a lack of compassion. We seem to be more self-centered than each other-centered. In politics, there is so much hate. We can get together for the Olympics, but sometimes I wonder whether we really want world peace. Prejudice-religious and non-religious-causes a lot of struggles in the world.”
