Bernadette’s Path to the Library
I had the privilege of speaking with Bernadette Rivard, Library Director at the Bellingham Public Library, about her academic and career journey. I’ve worked with Bernadette in the past on programming, like a college essay workshop at the library, but I was blown away. It’s easy to make assumptions about someone’s path to get from Point A to Point B, but shame on me!
It turns out, working in libraries was a career change for Bernadette after she went back to school for a related masters at Simmons. But it was Bernadette’s undergraduate academic journey that was the most interesting to me. It was not the straight line we often hear about. After high school, she went to college with no major in mind. Paying for college herself, and still unsure of her major after two years in school, she stopped being a fulltime student and increased her hours at the grocery store she had been working at, still taking night classes.
Later, Fitchburg State started a new business degree, so Bernadette went back to school, taking four classes per semester while also working 30 hours a week at the grocery store.
After a less-than-linear undergraduate journey, twelve years in another career, and a masters degree from my alma mater, how did she end up in a library and, more importantly, what did the journey to Library Director teach her? Listen for yourself!
Want to learn more about what Bellingham Public Library has to offer? Check it out!