When I was in 5th grade, my best friend Kenzie and I were forced to do community service as a punishment. We had had a substitute teacher who we knew was lenient, and we had asked him if we could go on a little walk around the school. For some reason, he allowed us to, and we had an innocent, leisurely little stroll around the hallways. But when we got back to the classroom, we found ourselves at the site of an active crime scene. In the time that we were gone from class, an eighth grader working on their science fair project had spilled bright green paint on the floor, and somebody had tracked the paint around the entire school. Since Kenzie and I had no alibi, we were high on the list of suspects. I can recall one girl, particularly hungry for justice, pointing at us and shouting “CHECK THEIR SHOES FOR PAINT!” The teachers decided not to go so far as performing any forensic analyses and to just let us take the blame. Our punishment was to come into school on a Saturday and clean every ounce of the mess left behind by the eighth graders’ science fair projects. 

Flash forward to fall semester 2024, when I began filling out the annual FAFSA form and looking into scholarships. I found that the majority of scholarships that I could potentially be eligible for all required some sort of community service or volunteer work. I realized at that moment that, aside from the one instance in middle school (which could hardly be called voluntary,) I had never done any sort of work out in the community. I began perusing volunteer opportunities local to where I live in South Hadley, but there were few options that seemed to fit my skill set or experience. The volunteer position search came to a standstill, and was eventually replaced in my mind with other things as the deadline for scholarship applications came and went.

One day, while waiting in line to order at Wild Chestnut (a vegan cafe I often go to in Florence) I noticed a science-fair-esque tri-fold poster display that had been set up by an organization called “Save the Buns”. While, of course, I had already held the belief that animal testing is bad, this particular campaign was especially effective. There was a variation of their business cards that featured a drawing of a sweet little bunny being prodded with a dozen or so injections of who knows what, and grief instantly washed over me. I was hit with the realization that, despite having been vegan for almost ten years, I had done little for the cause aside from signing petitions and donating money to animal sanctuaries. Neither of those were truly actionable contributions– in fact, I had done both with practically no effort, from the comfort of my own home, on my cell phone or computer. Along with the fact that I had absolutely no volunteer experience to speak of for my resume, seeing this organization’s display and realizing that I had been neglecting to take intentional actions that aligned with my values were the impetus for my decision to volunteer at a local animal sanctuary. 

I put my ear to the ground (aka, the “Vegan Massachusetts” Facebook page) and found that several people were highly recommending Whip City Animal Sanctuary, a relatively small non-profit in Westfield staffed entirely by volunteers. Each Saturday, I would make the thirty-five minute drive to Westfield to work the “lunch shift” at the sanctuary. My co-volunteer, Lelaina, and her four-year-old daughter and I would spend two hours feeding and watering the dozens of animals and mucking the stalls and pastures. Even when Ralph the attack turkey was coming for my life, or I was caked in sweat from carrying hay around, the work never felt grueling. Rather, I felt gratitude that I could be a part of these animals’ lives, and that I could be doing something that was in keeping with my values. These were living beings who had been abandoned, surrendered, or abused, and the fact that I was able to bring even a little gentleness or healing into their lives felt huge to me. I also realized how different a feeling it was to be working not to earn money, but to simply be of service. Every time I lingered at the end of my shift and took a brush to Davi (a small, boisterous goat with fur like a calico cat) and he looked up at me with his giant grinning teeth and his earnest eyes, I felt like I was making a difference.

* * *

While volunteering at the sanctuary, I also began seriously envisioning and working towards my future. I knew that I wanted to do library science, but the careers attainable with an MLIS seemed innumerable. I spoke with people who had been employed in many arenas of library science, from public school and university librarians to public librarians and archival specialists. Each of their salaries, day-to-day work, and degree of public-facingness varied so drastically that it felt difficult to even compare the potential careers, and I found little clarity through speaking to the people who held these jobs. If anything, my vision for my future had become more muddled.

I found clarity when I began visiting my public library more frequently. As a child, I had seen public libraries solely as a magical place where books seemed never-ending (a la Mary Poppins’s tote bag), but as an adult, I began to see public libraries for the incredible community resource that they are. Every time I walked to the library near my house to print out my essays, I was struck by the amount of free resources and events that were cycling through the space. There were donation boxes set up for a local cat rescue, as well as information and events for people experiencing food insecurity; free music lessons for beginners and an online writing group; afternoon snacks for children and teens . . . Some nights, a children’s bedtime story reading event would be occurring in the children’s section, the little ones all cozy and safe with their pajamas and stuffed animals, while a gardening club met in the community room. People of all ages and  walks of life were able to access all of these offerings for free. 

The fact that all of these events seemed well attended told me that they were deeply necessary and vital for the community. Each time I visited the library and read the signs advertising upcoming events, I experienced the same feeling that I had felt while seeing the Save the Buns table at the cafe– a sharp surge of sadness that comes from learning that there is a problem or a need in the world, followed by heartening motivation upon realizing that there is action to be taken to rectify it, and that people are already working towards it. I learned that many of these events were conceived of and hosted by individual librarians, and suddenly my perception of the job of public librarian expanded beyond being a career for somebody who simply likes books, to being a career for somebody who values affecting change in the community. Through this lens, the public library seemed like the perfect place from which to perform advocacy work of all kinds.

My time volunteering at the animal sanctuary imbued in me the desire to be of service to my community, people and animals alike. Through that volunteer work, and through paying almost weekly visits to South Hadley Public Library, I was finally able to begin envisioning a future for myself–one in which both of those interests could culminate into a fulfilling career. The possibility of having my workplace be the venue through which I could perform community service had never occurred to me, but once it did, my mind began reeling with all the events and organizations I could potentially host with the public library as my venue. I imagined hosting a community event to make winter shelters for stray cats (something my cousin and I have done together that is a tedious, laborious task for two, but would be made much simpler with more people). Perhaps I could even start a book club for the patrons of the library, and create a space for all different kinds of people to come together over their love of reading. In my mind’s eye, the possibilities float on endlessly.

* * *

Recently, I gave notice that I would be quitting my volunteer position at the animal sanctuary. During the time I have spent gathering peoples’ experiences and advice about applying to graduate school to receive an MLIS, I have been resoundingly told that simply earning the degree is not enough to earn you a career as a librarian–the majority of libraries will want to see that candidates have experience either volunteering or working at a library before being hired. Between working, attending classes, and volunteering at the animal sanctuary, I would be stretched far too thin to take on additional library volunteer work, so I made the difficult decision to carve out more time to begin my path towards becoming a librarian. I have sent an email to Friends of the South Hadley Public Library about volunteering there, and nervously (excitedly!) await a response. I will dearly miss the animals at the sanctuary, but I am already devising alternate ways to help them. I envision an event held at the public library, at which the owners of Whip City Sanctuary can spread the word about what they do in order to gather more volunteers and donations. Perhaps they will even bring my favorite goat, Davi, who frequently accompanies them to events as he loves socializing. (We’ll just have to keep him away from the books!) I look forward to a day in which my love for volunteering can coexist with my career, and I will no longer have to divide up my time between the two.