Your UC Clermont library team is pretty new to campus. Because we may not have a chance to meet you in person this semester, we wanted to offer you a snapshot of each of the library’s faculty and staff. Each employee will be featured throughout the semester. This week Emily Wages, Operations Manager, is featured.

Here is how she answered some of our questions:

1. Tell us a little about you.
   I grew up here in Cincinnati, specifically in Forest Park and Fairfield. I attended Miami University for my bachelor’s in English Education then went to Kent State for my Master’s of Library and Information Science. Before I started working at UC a year ago, I worked for various southwest Ohio public libraries and a nonprofit library consortium.
2. What brought you to start working in libraries?
   I didn’t student teach until my second semester senior year of college and I realized too late that teaching primary or secondary school was not what I wanted to do. When I graduated with my Bachelor’s in Education in 2011, I got a job at an insurance office instead of applying to schools to teach. I knew that I liked teaching, reading, research, & information and I fondly remembered working at Miami’s library as an undergrad student for years. My friends and family encouraged me to pursue a career in libraries when they heard about my interest, so I applied to Kent State to start my MLIS and got a job as a circulation assistant at a local public library. I finished my MLIS in 2014 and moved through various libraries and library positions in my career, finally ending up here at UC Clermont!
3. What are some items on your to-watch or to-read list?
   I have a new book called Dead Astronauts from one of my favorite authors, Jeff Vandermeer, waiting to be read on my bookshelf. It’s the second book in his Borne series. I’m waiting for one of my other favorite authors, Christopher Beuhlman, to release a new novel as well. I read a lot of nonfiction on all kinds of topics including gardening & foraging, true crime, psychology, library studies, social justice, psychology, and more.
4. Where was the last place you traveled or visited? Tell us about it.
   Usually, once a year around Memorial Day, my partner and I go on a long weekend trip with friends of ours. Because of COVID, we didn’t get to do our trip this May, but we are hoping to go in October. In previous years, we have gone to Hocking Hills (where we planned to go this year) several times, Lake Cumberland Kentucky, Red River Gorge, Hueston Woods, and last year we stayed in the very cute Maggie Valley, North Carolina.
5. What is the thing you miss most about the pre-pandemic days?
   Being able to travel! I haven’t had a vacation longer than three days in several years, so I am saving up for and planning an eventual several-weeks-long trip to the UK and Ireland. We are hoping to go in the summer of 2022, so fingers crossed this is over by then!