“The library is the heart of the college campus.”
BY: FRAHNAZ NAZARY
Staff Writer
Sarah Geels works in the library at the Meramec campus of STLCC and has over 25 years of experience. She was born and grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, but she moved to Missouri with her family in 1982 and she has been living in St. Louis since then.
She started her college studies at Meramec in the fall of 1994 and, in the same year, began working at the library as a part-time student worker for a couple of years. After graduating from STLCC, she continued to work at the library, and at the same time she got her bachelor’s degree in history, with a minor in French from Webster University.
“The library was such a welcoming place, and I learned so much from my manager and other staff– not just about how a library is run, but also about our mission to help students. So as time went on, I couldn’t imagine working anywhere besides a library,” Geels said.
In Geels’s opinion, the benefit of a library is that it strengthens the community by providing a place for people to look for knowledge and to use that knowledge to empower them in their lives. Geels noted that librarians are always wanting to help students find sources and teach them the tools they need for success.
“In the library, we don’t just give answers, we show people how to find the answers,” Geels said.
By Geels’s definition, the library is the heart of the college campus. It has become a place that serves almost everyone at the college in one way or another. Students can use the library for academic research, to study or to look for recreational books to read.
Geels is now looking toward the future.
“I might continue my education and get my master’s degree in library and information science,” she said.
