What Our Members Are Saying: Mimosa Shah

Your Name: Mimosa Shah Title and Affiliation: Reference Librarian, Radcliffe Institute, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University Year(s) of ARLIS/NA Membership: 5

What do you love about your work?

I work with amazing collections on or about the lives of women and gender diverse people! I love connecting with researchers and helping them find and use materials from these collections. Their questions challenge me to further enhance my understanding of our holdings; to better demonstrate use of catalogs and guides for finding materials; and through a 1:1 consultation, make space for serendipitous resource discovery. I also enjoy working alongside many thoughtful and deeply knowledgeable colleagues who patiently share their expertise. Their remarkable efforts inspire me to be more curious about what we do and how we do it.

Tell us about the kind of library you work in. What do you wish other librarians understood about the kind of library you are in? What makes it great? What makes it challenging?

I'm a Reference Librarian for the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, a research library at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Its holdings include manuscripts, books, periodicals, photographs, and audiovisual materials. There is a particular emphasis upon items about women, gender, and sexuality studies; a renowned culinary collection; and the archives of Radcliffe College, a women's college that was fully incorporated into Harvard College in 1999. Libraries with collections like ours are vulnerable in today's political climate, and so, it's especially important for us to do our due diligence to make these collections (and the stories they hold) accessible.

Who or what inspired you to join ARLIS/NA? What's kept you renewing your membership after that?

I joined ARLIS/NA in late 2020. In August 2020, I began online coursework towards a master's degree in LIS through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Information Sciences. Sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I sought intellectual community through smaller professional organizations. My friend Karen Hinkle (now director of the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts & Design Library) told me about ARLIS/NA previously. Upon joining, I volunteered for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and worked on other committees. I appreciate members' creativity and artistry, and am encouraged by the organization's efforts to engage newer professionals.

What was the first ARLIS/NA conference you went to, and what memories have stuck with you from that event?

I attended my first ARLIS/NA conference in April 2022 (for which I received a Student Conference Attendance Award to attend). It took place in my home city (Chicago, Illinois). I was on the cusp of graduating from library school and eager to meet new people and learn more about arts librarianship. I have good memories of meeting Canadian colleagues Rachel Harris and Adele Flannery; stumbling into Sara Smith IRL (whom I had known online only up until then) near an escalator, then having coffee and learning about her creative arts practice; and taking a very fun cyanotype workshop.

What other professional organizations are you a member of? How does your involvement with ARLIS/NA complement or inform your engagement with those organizations?

I'm the current Vice-Chair for ARLIS/NA's New England Chapter. I'm also a member of: Visual Resources Association (VRA) and its regional workshop implementation team; Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Arts Section; and Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA). As a Reference Librarian, I'm responsible for helping researchers use photographs and audiovisual materials. Membership in these organizations connects me to other information professionals navigating issues around copyright and fair use, advocating for reading room accessibility, and integrating visual arts into teaching. Deeper relationships I've built with fellow Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander library workers seep into my work with ARLIS/NA, VRA, and ACRL Arts.