Welcome back to another installment of 5 Questions! If you would like to choose 5 Questions yourself, feel free to choose 5 from this form.

Laura Milcarzyk, Public Services Specialist for Circulation Services

Tell us about what you do at ZSR Library?

As for most of us at ZSR, there are a few different components to my job. A large part of my job is managing the dayshift student workers for the desk and the stacks. This includes training the new hires who work during the day. At times you may also find me in the stacks working on our ongoing shifting project, sometimes with one our student employees. I also contribute, as part of our team, to curating our book displays, and work at the Public Services desk. I have also started a student employee blog for Inside ZSR. The blog is about, and at times by, the student employees and the work that they do.

What is a typical day in your work life?

I am quickly learning that a typical day at ZSR is never the same.

What is your favorite book/podcast/movie?

I do not have a favorite book; there are just too many to name. I do love a book that makes me think, captures my imagination, that inspires me to be better, or teaches me something new (especially about history); all these things can come from any genre of literature.

What is your favorite project you have worked on in your career?

I was at Morgan University in Baltimore just before I moved to North Carolina and my manager gave me the go ahead to have a libguide on the library webpage. I was so excited by their collection of books, especially the old books about African Americans (this was my minor at college and my research specialty), that my manager wanted me to have a space to share these books. I began researching the people from the books, even visiting the places where some of them lived, and was able to create this really fun interactive libguide for the students. The point was to bring the people in the books alive so much that students wanted to come in and check the books out. I took stats to keep track of how well the libguide was used and influenced students; then, along with a team presenting their own areas of specialty, I took the project (and a huge bin of the oldest books) to a Maryland Statewide Circulation Conference. The audience was just as amazed by the books as I was, and they liked the idea of getting students back in the library after Covid. I was told that I had inspired a new joy in their book collection which hadn’t been seen in while. That was a great compliment, plus being trusted with such freedom for a creative outlet about something I enjoy sharing with others was amazing. I will always be thankful my manager gave me that opportunity.

What is one word that best describes your ZSR experience?

Labyrinth.

How did you start working in libraries?

That’s a long story. Come ask when you have some time.

What is something we can’t know by looking at you?

I was a grill cook for over 20 years. “Hell’s Kitchen” is real.

Is there something you want to tell us about yourself?

I am a single mom of a 20 year old son, for whom I am very thankful for.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever gotten?

Love people. That’s all. It’s not complicated.