I’m working on an article this morning for an upcoming edition of “Against the Grain”. My article, “Assembling the orchestra: The role of librarians in an eScience environment”, is coming together a bit more clumsily than the requested author profile. The article has a 2,000 word limit, including the profile, so now I’m wondering if I can split it evenly between the two subjects – me and eScience.
Sally A. Gore
Head, Research and Scholarly Communication Services
Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School
55 Lake Ave., N; Worcester, MA 01655
(508) 856-1966
sally(dot)gore(at)umassmed(dot)edu
Born and lived: I was born in Fredericksburg, VA and grew up in Petersburg, VA. The first three decades of my life were spent in the south, but I’ve lived in New England since the early 90s.
Early life: Happy kid
Professional career and activities: I’ve had two somewhat formal careers; as an ordained minister and as a librarian, and some side ventures into exercise physiology, volunteer coordination, non-profit work, office work, log flume operator, etc.
Family: I live with my spouse, Lynn, our dog, Zebediah, and our cat, Tater.
In my spare time: I play the mandolin, do art, maintain my blogs (blahg, blahg, blagh and Button a Day), ride my scooter, listen to a lot of music, read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, and exercise not enough.
Favorite books: “Lying Awake” by Mark Salzman, “Dove” by Robin Lee Graham, and any and everything by Annie Dillard
Pet peeves: Motorized lawn tools, litter, and the phrase, “It just can’t be done”.
Philosophy: “Father, forgive us for what we must do, you forgive us and we’ll forgive you. We’ll forgive each other ‘til we both turn blue, then we’ll whistle and go fishin’ in heaven.” (John Prine)
Most memorable career achievement: Still waiting for it – to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. (Being a panelist on the national MLA Webcast was pretty cool, though.)
Goal I hope to achieve five years from now: To be in a position where I positively influence the overall direction of our profession, either as a library director or a consultant. If this doesn’t pan out, I’m hoping to play the mandolin for Rosanne Cash.
How/where do I see the industry in five years: I hope to see our profession expanding, becoming more and more entrepreneurial and creative, so that we’re seen as an equal and integral partner in information creation, organization, and access, rather than solely a support service. I’d love to see us get out of the “middle man” position, to stop hanging our hats (and our value) on simply providing resources and focus more on creating them ourselves via new modes of publication, repositories, web tools, apps, and more.
blahg, blahg, blahg... 