Amy Smith

Professor

“I’m a soccer player, a full-time mom and a research librarian, not necessarily in that order.”

“Actually, I’m a full-time mother and a part-time librarian,” confesses Amy Smith. In addition to working in the SMC library and teaching Library 1, she also works in the research department of the L.A. Times. “I thought it would be hard to stop working at the Times,” she says. “But the library at SMC is really a happening place, in its own way.”

Amy feels that an alternative course title for Library 1 might be “How to help yourself be a smart person for the rest of your life.” “What I teach is how not to feel overwhelmed when you walk into a library,” she says. “Students often feel intimidated, especially the older ones who are returning to school.”

Amy feels that she fits in very well with the “untypical staff” of the SMC library. “I think that what we do is to empower students.” She feels good about providing people with the tools to open their own avenues of inquiry. And she takes the extra steps to make sure that’s what happens. “I feel I have to take the time to show students the library’s uses,” she says. “It doesn’t do any good if I do it all for them. And I get to make a real difference in people’s lives, which is really satisfying.”

Satisfaction also comes to Amy on a variety of other playing fields. “My other persona is as a jock,” she explains. “I play squash and tennis and spend a lot of time outdoors. And on Saturday mornings,” she adds, “I play in a soccer league for us ‘moms’, which is just a gas.”

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