The Ruth Lilly Medical Library welcomed Jennifer Watson to the RLML Content Management Team in May of 2022. She received her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a minor in History from the University of Northern Colorado in 2012, and her master’s degree in Museum Studies from IUPUI in 2015. She previously worked at the Indiana War Memorial Museum. Jenny is November's Employee Spotlight.
What is your position at the Ruth Lilly Medical Library?
My title is Content Management Assistant and I do Interlibrary Loans and some acquisitions. On average, I’d say our team gets 30 or so Interlibrary Loan requests per day during the regular academic year. It’s a little less busy in the summer. For the acquisitions side of it, I mostly do books vs. journals or series, which other members of my team handle, and we each do borrowing and lending.
How long have you been working at the library?
I started at the library in May of this year (2022). It’s already been about 6 months but it seems like less!
What do you like most about your job or the library?
What I really like most about working here, in general, is the people I work with. My co-workers are really nice.
What is your favorite food/favorite place to eat?
I love bakeries and all things baked goods… so Amelia’s or the Gallery Pastry Shop, places like that! Sometimes my friends and I go on bakery crawls, spending a good portion of a day visiting multiple bakeries.
Where is your favorite place to travel?
Locally, I would say I frequent places like Cincinnati, I go there a lot. Less locally, Great Britain! I studied Anthropology abroad there for 5 months in 2012. We took a lot of fun field trips, we had a field trip to Ireland once. I was mostly in Chester and Liverpool, but I didn’t visit any Beatles spots. I did visit some Harry Potter landmarks though – we saw King’s Cross Station and we went to the Elephant Café in Edinburgh, which is where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot.
If you could witness any historical event, what would it be and why?
I would want to see one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. The Pyramids at the time they were being built, for instance. Seeing who did it, and how – solving the mysteries surrounding it. I think the pyramids would be the top, of the 7.
Do you know all 7?
Let’s see… I know there is the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and I can’t remember the other two? But the reason I know those off the top of my head is because I like the board game, 7 Wonders!
What is one item on your bucket list?
To see the Northern Lights. I’d like to go to Norway to see them, and since seeing them is on my mom’s bucket list too, I’d love it if we could do that together.
If you were to write a book about yourself, what would the title be?
An Ordinary Life – in tribute to my grandma, who once told me that would be the title of the book of her life.