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Jaketha @ Bossier Central
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Born in Shreveport and raised in south Mississippi, I made my return to the Ark-La-Tex Labor Day 2007 to begin an exciting opportunity as the 1st Information Technology Specialist at Bossier Parish Libraries. |
My library career begin in 1997 as a part-time, library technology assistant (LTA) for the Hattiesburg Public Library. At the time, I was attending the University of Southern Mississippi studying toward a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering technology, which I found out was worthless after I got the Masters. |
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| For 5 years, I worked as a LTA and then the Gates Foundation starting "giving away" new computers, which was a blessing for the rural public libraries that received them, but since they came with outside maintenance contracts that slowly bought my job to a screeching halt. |  |
So, I started working in Reference, which involved working with people instead of things - talk about a culture shock. With this new position, my duties involved monitoring several computer labs and answering reference questions. I did this for 2.5 years. |
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Right before moving into Reference, my mother died after battling cancer off and on for 6 years, which meant I spaced out from 2000 to 2003. |
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By 2003, I snapped out of it and found myself returning to school to obtain a Masters in Workforce Training and Development along with a graduate certificate in Training and Development. By 2005, I was seeking something new and found it at Lamar County Library System in Purvis, Mississippi. I started there as the assistant in Technical Services, where I drastically downsized a year's backlog of donated materials in a few short months. By my 4th month on the job, I was approached by leadership concerning a promotion and within a year became the library system's 1st Training & Technology Specialist. By late 2006, I had applied to library school and by early 2007, I was accepted into the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's library and information science program. |
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| Outside of work, I am studying to obtain a ministerial license with an emphasis in pastoral counseling. I have three personal websites and I plan on expanding one small business and starting several others this year. My ultimate goal is become a multi-millionaire, build a log cabin, and own a crimson-pearl Cadillac Escalade. |  |
| Thank you, Jaketha Farmer (  )Information Technology Specialist |
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