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Archived: Meet the Librarians of the Oviatt Library

Posted in Meet the Librarians

Meet the Librarians of the Oviatt Photo of Felicia Vertreesis back! Meet Felicia Vertrees, Oviatt’s Online Instructional Design & Education Librarian. Felicia designs and develops online information literacy learning tools in Moodle as well as other platforms. She also provides reference, instruction, and orders library resources for Gender and Women Studies.

Where are you originally from? I grew up in a small town called Sparta, Illinois.

What do you like/admire most about CSUN students? I admire the fact that many of them come from such adversity to attend college.

What’s your favorite book or your top 5? Right now it has to be “The Miniaturist” by Jesse Burton. It is so incredibly creepy and good. I like to stalk colleagues on Good Reads, and that’s how I found this book.

What songs would you include on the soundtrack of your life? Probably “I’m Coming Out” by Diana Ross definitely. I feel like my life is just moving so fast with lots of changes. Also “Desperation” by Judith Hill. It’s a great song from the “20 Feet from Stardom” documentary. The lyrics go like this:

“You gotta let it out
Bust the roof and tear down the walls
That’s what it’s all about
It’s your life, it’s your life
It’s your life, it’s your life.”

Why did you become a librarian? I was a copy editor for a long time, which definitely has similarities to being a librarian. I wasn’t satisfied with my previous career and had thought about being a librarian before. So this time I went for it and haven’t looked back.

What do you wish every student knew about the library or librarians? I wish they knew just how much we librarians are in their corner. We want them to succeed at everything they do, and we will do what we can to help them succeed.

What’s your favorite quote? I love this one by Charlotte Bronte and I would love every woman to live by it:  “I would always rather be happy than dignified.”

Is there a specific class that you really enjoy doing library instruction for? I enjoy any class where my students are willing to push themselves and they ask interesting questions.

If you could meet anyone living or dead who would it be? Okay, that one is easy… it would definitely be Maya Angelou. How cool would it be to sit down with her and soak up all that wisdom in person?

If you could learn any skill what would it be? I can write, but I would love to write a book. I don’t know if you learn that, but it’s something I want to accomplish someday.

If you could witness any event in history what would it be? Considering the current climate in our country, I would like to witness the Civil Rights Movement.

If you could be any fictional character who would it be? I would be Sarah on Orphan Black.

What are some of your current projects that you are working on? I am finishing up a Moodle tutorial on copyright.

What are your research interests? I have lots of interests, but information literacy in the social media age is something I would like to explore.

What do you find most surprising about CSUN students? How curious, funny, and brilliant a lot of them are and they don’t even know it.

Laurie Borchard