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| Meet the Librarian |
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Linn State Technical College Library |
Tesuk Im, Director
Linn State Technical College
Linn, Missouri
Tesuk is the Director of the Linn State Technical College (LSTC) Library. She came to the institution about five years ago. She oversees the library operations and supervises three staff members and five students.
Tesuk has a wide range of experiences and has traveled to many parts of the world. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Seoul, Korea, German Language Teacher's Diploma at Goethe Institute, Munich, Germany and her Master's degree from the University of Alabama, specializing in Library Media.
Her road to librarianship began when she was working as a European Studies searcher in the acquisitions department at Cornell University Olin Library in Ithaca, New York. She was one of about 31 searchers at the time. Eventually she moved on to the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) and managed the interlibrary loan department in Lister Hill Health Science Library, Medical Center, UAB. From there, she took a position as a research librarian with EBSCO Subscription Services.
For number of years, she worked at Lincoln University, Jefferson City, as public and technical services coordinator and an acting director. In 1997, through the World Bank library project funding, Tesuk found herself in Laos for six weeks with the intent to implement library database of the National Polytechnic Institute in Vientian, Laos. Prior to this, she had also spent time in Germany on a Goethe Institute Fellowship where she was in a program for German language teachers who teach the language outside of Germany.
Constructed in 2001, the library itself is only a few years old and is located on the main level of the Information Technology Center building. The building was featured in the College & Research Libraries News, October 2000 (Volume 61, Number 9). It serves as a primary information resource center with organized collections of materials in print, non-print, and electronic formats.
Tesuk has accomplished three significant undertakings in her five years at LSTC. The new building completed in 2001 ranks top on the list. "What makes me the most proud is when students walk in and say, 'Wow, this is beautiful.'" And justifiably so. Tesuk played a major role in the design of the new building. She had significant experience helping design Lincoln University's new library in 1996. Not only did she take Linn State's designers to Lincoln University for an example but, "I told the designers that the exterior should have a 'grandiose façade,'" mentioning the Heidelberg library in Germany. Other accomplishments include a rigorous collection-building effort in order to receive accreditation. In addition, she was very pleased at the completion of the MOBIUS project.
The library is a charter member of the Missouri Bibliographic Information User System, commonly known as MOBIUS. It is a consortium consisting of 55 Missouri's higher education institutions and the Missouri State Library. As a MOBIUS consortium member institution, Linn State Technical College students, faculty and staff have access to and delivery from the MOBIUS Union Catalog, which contains over 17 million item records.
"Wonderful," exclaims Tesuk about MOBIUS. "The students love it and material arrives about two days later. It is a great supplement for our main collection."
Tesuk and her staff are always seeking new ways to lure students into the library. "We promote a lot to let them know that we are here and how we can serve them," she explains. She encourages her staff to attend meetings and join committees on campus. "Placement is everything," remarks Tesuk when she refers to her merchandise. "We have to make sure that the merchandise they want is on the shelf and that it is in a place that is easy to find."
Tesuk encourages her staff to be as approachable as possible to the students. "I am paid to be bothered by you," she tells her patrons. She realizes that many of the programs, heavy equipment for example, are technically-intense and she works to very hard to introduce these students to the library's services. Tesuk says that the best part about her job is, "Helping students and making sure that they are happy and smiling."
Like many other librarians, Tesuk feels the pressure that decreased funding has placed on their activity. She feels the crunch in the area of acquisitions. "It is very important for us to maintain a quality collection," she stresses. Due to the intensity of the technical trades taught at Linn State, some of their technical materials can cost upwards of three-digits. "We spend an average of $150 on some of these materials," she notes.
You can visit Linn State Technical College online at http://www.linnstate.edu and the library website at http://www.linnstate.edu/library/default.asp. If you would like to learn more about MOBIUS, please visit http://mco.mobius.missouri.edu/.
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