Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Bill Norman - The Stars at KLIC: The Journey Story of our Staff

By Bill Norman

We often think of libraries as bastions of knowledge, scholarly research, and innovation. Growing up, my love for facts and trivia about a lot of subjects got me hooked on books, particularly non-fiction. When I began my career here at Chattanooga State Community College’s Augusta R. Kolwyck Library, I knew immediately this was where I wanted to be.

Going to college 12 years after high school was out of the need to make myself more employable. I did not have any one to come along side and mentor me during those 12 years. Drifting from low-paying job to low-paying job during that time caused me to realize, after talking to an employment counselor, the importance of getting more education. I only had less than a year of vocational training at that time. So I started here at Chattanooga State in 1980, full-time for the first few semesters, during a period of unemployment. I knew I could not stay unemployed for long while supporting a family, so I had to find work while attending school. But, while working I had to scale back my hours. This posed a dilemma. How do I work while continuing my education? Should I work full time and school part-time or school full-time and work part-time?

It was in November, 1985 that I started working as a Student Assistant in the library’s circulation department. A year and two months later in January, 1987, I was offered the position of Library Assistant or administrative assistant to the Library Director. Then I really knew this was where I wanted to spend the rest of my working career. I brought to the library at that time a skill set that included administrative and customer service; the ability to brainstorm ideas, ideas for inventions; tinkering with gadgets including mechanical and electronics; computer maintenance and electronics background; door-to-door selling; later as an entrepreneur.

My being reclassified in 1997 as a full-time computer laboratory technician provided further opportunities for training, innovation and service. 30 years at Chattanooga State opened doors for me to serve the College and its students in ways I never got to imagine and for which I am humbly grateful.

Bill’s accomplishments:
Member, Support Staff Council.
Member, Sick Leave Bank Committee.
Amazon Marketplace Seller of used books, 2001-2010.
Served on over a dozen interview committees in various departments.
Technology Advisory Committee for two 3-year terms.
TAC Subcommittee, Co-author, the College’s Five Year Plan to Update End-User Support Compensation.
TAC Subcommittee, Co-chair, Feasibility Study/Implementation of a campus-wide print management system.
Advised the College’s IT Department to purchase anti-tampering software, Drive Shield and DeepFreeze.
Advised the College’s IT Department to purchase LanSchool.

No comments: