We are thrilled to spotlight Charlotte Brookins, another of our May 2025 Graduates. Brookins was invited to present two posters at the American Library Association Conference in Philadelphia this past year. These posters were the product of a year-long graduate assistantship she completed alongside Theo Prineas and under the guidance of Professors Kara Logsden and Iulian Vamanu. She is “incredibly grateful to all three of them for the learning, career, and growth opportunities they provided for [her], and she always will be.”
She has also recently accepted a position as a Media Assistant at Shakopee West Middle School, where she feels like SLIS really prepared her, in her own words: “There are so many things about SLIS that helped to prepare me for my current position. First of all, the guidance of Professor Logsden and Professor Vamanu on how to navigate a particularly difficult job market for librarianship provided me with the tools and courage I needed to persevere through the process of job searching; beyond this, their classes and their tutelage during my graduate assistantship with them provided me with a myriad of experience to apply to future positions. I am also very grateful to Professor Jackie Biger, whose classes on early literacy and children's librarianship made me feel thoroughly prepared for my current position. Finally, I feel so lucky to have been able to learn alongside all of the other students in the SLIS program, who helped to make classes deeply engaging and applicable to our future (and current) careers.”
Her favorite part of her current job is getting to ignite a passion for reading in her middle school students: “Middle school is such a crucial time in a child's development for many reasons, not the least of which being that it is a time that can help solidify a love of reading and information that can carry them through to adulthood. I feel so privileged to be working with these kids and guiding them through reading, research, and information studies.”
We are so grateful to Charlotte Brookins for sharing her journey and recent successes with us!
If you are an alumnus who would like a spotlight, reach out to us on LinkedIn! If you have a new position, or have recently presented at a conference, or other career achievement, we would love to get to share your success!