Nimisha is Technical Services Librarian at Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio. Aside from cataloging she also teaches and provides reference – a multi-faceted position that has sparked her desire to think about library services holistically and transparently from inward out. She is passionate about critical librarianship and advocating for equity and inclusivity in library services. Pronouns: she/her/hers
We are so excited to welcome Nimisha to the Lead Editor team. To celebrate her new role, Charissa sat down with Nimisha so readers can learn more about our newest team member. Enjoy!
Charissa: LibParlor is so excited that you’re joining as a Lead Editor! Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
Nimisha: I’m originally from South Dakota and my passion for languages & linguistics led me to pursue an undergraduate degree in Arabic & Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Our library is gorgeous and I basically lived there as much as I could while also interning at the archives! When it became clear to me that a career in translation was not something I wanted to do, library school suddenly became the most obvious choice for me. I got my MLIS from Pratt Institute and had amazing opportunities working in some of the major art museum libraries there including the Met, the Guggenheim, and the Frick. After completing my degree, I eventually moved back to the Midwest and am now working in academic librarianship.
Charissa: You’ve been with LibParlor since March as a Contributing Editor of Featured Researchers. What initially drew you to LibParlor and prompted you to apply to be a Contributing editor?
Nimisha: I’ve never been in a position where research has been required of me for my job, so being able to stay afloat of research practices and all the amazing librarians doing the work from an editor’s and interviewer’s perspective really drew me to LibParlor. I try to keep up with the field as much as I can with what extra professional development & personal time I have, but being able to pick library researchers’ brains and create additional exposure to the diverse voices doing such inspiring scholarship is such a cool opportunity.
Charissa: What excites you about this new leadership role within LibParlor?
“Something I strive for personally in my career is to open doors for people and remove obstacles as much as I can for those striving to make a difference and create a platform for their work, and I really think LibParlor could be a catalyst for this.”
Nimisha: I’m very excited to help LibParlor grow into our role as an aid, a guide, and a community for librarians to turn to. Something I strive for personally in my career is to open doors for people and remove obstacles as much as I can for those striving to make a difference and create a platform for their work, and I really think LibParlor could be a catalyst for this.
Charissa: What is something you hope LibParlor will accomplish in the future? / What is something you want to accomplish with LibParlor?
Nimisha: I would really love to expand our community further to highlight voices from all areas of our field. As someone who wears many hats at work and sometimes multiple hats stacked on top of each other, I think it’s extremely valuable to have contributions from researchers not only in different specialties but also from different types of libraries. I’ll actively work to seek out all these different perspectives in order to highlight the library services & scholarship that we don’t always get to hear from.
Featured image [CC0], via Pexels.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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