Meet John Damond!
Business, Science, and Technology
Department Manager
Enoch Pratt Free Library/
State Library Resource Center
What do you do?
I’m the manager of the Business, Science, and Technology Department at SLRC, and I’m also the measurement coordinator for the Library. The people who fund us have begun asking for different types of information on how we serve the public, and I am the person whose job it is to research, recommend, and coordinate the collection of new types of statistics.
I’m the manager of the Business, Science, and Technology Department at SLRC, and I’m also the measurement coordinator for the Library. The people who fund us have begun asking for different types of information on how we serve the public, and I am the person whose job it is to research, recommend, and coordinate the collection of new types of statistics.
How did you get here?
I worked in bookstores for many years before I decided to go to library school. I realized that I enjoyed helping people find information (many bookstore customers were using this giant chain store as a library), so becoming a librarian seemed like the ideal career move (though I’m still waiting for Bob Dylan to call me up and ask me to go on tour with him).
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
As a librarian, the most rewarding thing I do is give someone a GED study guide or finding information about a disease or disorder a customer has been diagnosed with. I like helping people in general, but cases like this are extra special. As a manager, I enjoy developing and implementing new ideas as well as assisting new staff grow and develop their library skills.
What’s a book that you didn’t expect to like – but did?
I can’t think of a specific title that fits this description. I did, however, have an experience when I read a book that I thought would be okay but turned out to be extraordinary. In 1992 I had the opportunity to go to Amsterdam, so I thought it would be neat to take a copy of Anne Frank’s diary to read on the plane to get me in the mood. Well, after reading the book and visiting her hiding place, I became totally obsessed with her story for several years, and I now have an entire shelf of books devoted just to Anne Frank and her family. Don’t start me talking about it, though, because I won’t shut up.
What is your favorite SLRC program, service, or training?
I can’t think of a specific title that fits this description. I did, however, have an experience when I read a book that I thought would be okay but turned out to be extraordinary. In 1992 I had the opportunity to go to Amsterdam, so I thought it would be neat to take a copy of Anne Frank’s diary to read on the plane to get me in the mood. Well, after reading the book and visiting her hiding place, I became totally obsessed with her story for several years, and I now have an entire shelf of books devoted just to Anne Frank and her family. Don’t start me talking about it, though, because I won’t shut up.
What is your favorite SLRC program, service, or training?
When I first started working at SLRC (in the late 1900s), one of my tasks as the New Guy in the department was answering reference questions from county libraries through MILO. It allowed me to explore all the nooks and crannies of this huge library collection, and it reminds me of the show The History Detectives on PBS. I still love getting difficult or weird questions and wading through all of our sources to find an answer.
What do you do when you’re not reading?
I’m a musician, so I play music a lot. I’m in an African drumming group, and I’m involved in a band with two other SLRC librarians (called the Footnotes), which plays concerts in library branches around Baltimore.
I’m a musician, so I play music a lot. I’m in an African drumming group, and I’m involved in a band with two other SLRC librarians (called the Footnotes), which plays concerts in library branches around Baltimore.
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