Sort of by accident, during a college summer, I got a job working at Houghton, the rare book collection at Harvard University.  I loved the job and decided some time afterward that instead of going into English Literature that I would go into rare books.

Do you have a library/information science degree?   

    Yes, an M.L.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill, received in 1994.

What kinds of library positions have you held and where?

    I have been a page at Houghton, a "special assistant" at the Rare Book and Manuscript Collection at Columbia University (I cataloged the archives of playwrights Sam and Bella Spewack), a graduate assistant at the Rare Book Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill, a rare book cataloger for a dealer in modern first editions in New York, a reference librarian / women's history curator / rare book cataloger at the Library Company of Philadelphia (where everyone wears many hats), and am now a reference librarian at the Pikes Peak Community College library in Colorado Springs, along with teaching a course in Children's Literature at that college as an adjunct instructor.

How long have you been, a librarian?   I started library work in 1990, so, 10 years.

Are you currently working as a librarian and do you plan to continue in the profession?    Yes.

Which came first in your life, your work or career as a librarian, or writing for children? 

    Writing came first, but not necessarily for children. I started writing when I was nine. Come to think of it, though, I worked in a library when I was nine, too -- the elementary school library!

Did your library work have anything to do with becoming a children's writer?

    Very much so.  I had, of course, read children's literature and young adult fiction when I was a child and a young adult, but it wasn't until I took a course in young adult fiction that I began writing a YA novel.  I read about 50 YA novels for the class and felt like my story wasn't being told, so I would tell it myself.

Did your library work directly influence your work as an author?

    See above.  It wasn't library work per se (I ended up going into rare books and not children's librarianship), but the coursework at library school most certainly influenced my writing.

Did you respond to the lack of books?

    The "lack of books of certain kinds" is probably the best way to describe my inspiration. So many YA books that I read for grad school rang false with me. I wanted to tell how it REALLY is being in high school, or how it really was in MY high school, anyhow.

Did librarianship increase your knowledge of children's literature and influence the kinds of things you chose to write?

    Yes.  If I hadn't gone to library school, I wouldn't have been forced to read the kind of YA fiction that I didn't like so much -- I would, naturally, only have read the books that I liked and wanted to read.  Being exposed to crummier YA fiction gave me the push to try it myself, to right a wrong, perhaps.

Did incidents from your library work ever make it into your books? 
Did you ever set any scenes in your books in the library?

    Yes! In my second YA novel, the main character has a job similar to my college library job. She is cataloging a literary archive.  From that point, however, the novel diverges quite a bit from reality.  The character starts to DISPOSE of quite a bit of the archive, thinking she can decide what is worth keeping and remembering and what isn't.

What are the greatest benefits of being a librarian to you as a writer?

    Seeing current trends in publishing, being exposed to enormous quantities of the great and not-so-great books for children and young adults.

Are there any drawbacks to being a librarian and also a writer?

    I think being a librarian is a perfect money-making job for a writer.  It doesn't sap you as much as, say, teaching, where you're always on the job, grading, preparing, and so on.

If you write while working as as librarian, how do you manage the time-juggling act? 

    The library jobs I've had have mostly been straight nine-to-five kinds of jobs, so once you're home, your time is your own.  Additionally, I have sometimes been able to do certain kinds of writing research at work, since it's useful not only for my writing but also for being a librarian.

Did you find any conflicts or job-related difficulties in being both a writer and a librarian?

    Since I have published only poetry in magazines and an electronic book of poems, there has never been much conflict -- certainly no one ever got mad at me for paying too much attention to my writing at the expense of my library work.  I have always tried to keep the two separate.  I do not, for example, put my poetry and fiction writing credits on a resume when
applying for a library job.

Do you feel that librarianship has specific benefits to you as a writer?

    Yes -- along with what I've said above, working in a library is intellectually stimulating, but not draining.  Your mind is working all the time with words and images and information, so your writing muscles get exercised -- but not fatigued, as they might if I were, say, a full-time college professor.

What kinds of writing have you published?

    I have had poems published in Antietam Review; Mudfish, Bogg, and Light Quarterly, among others; essays in Brevity and Verbatim: The Language Quarterly; and in 1999, the 2River View published Dorothy Surrenders, an electronic collection of poems based on The Wizard of Oz.

http://www.2river.org/chapbooks/jrandall/

    Just to say thanks for including me in the survey despite the fact that I don't have a published book! I'm still trying to find a publisher for a picture book and two YA novels.