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My name is Abby Ryan,

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and I'm a services librarian
at Madison Public Library.

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Central library.

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When I was
maybe in second grade,

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someone interrupted me
while I was reading a book

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to ask me what I wanted to be
when I grew up.

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And because I was so anxious
to get back to my book,

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I said, “oh,
I'll just be a librarian.”

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True story.

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But it took a while
for that to actually happen.

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I think it was
when I was an assistant

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librarian that I had that moment

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that I thought, “okay, yep.

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This is my vocation,
this is my career,

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This is where I'm meant to be.”

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It made sense

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finally, that my job is to learn

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about everything every day.

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Be a librarian.

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My favorite part
is actually easy.

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It's learning something new
every day.

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Close second is being able
to help people

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with the information
that they're looking for

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that's important to them.

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And then close third is

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baby storytime.

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Always makes your week better.

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One of my favorite
library memories is from when we

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reopened the Central Library
in 2013 here in Madison.

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We had one of the wild things
there from Maurice

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Sendak's book,
“Where the Wild Things Are.”

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It's in all the official

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pictures with the mayor

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and the city council.

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We have this giant wild thing.

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And that is just

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a moment of library joy for me
and a memory of joy

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for my particular work

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as a children's librarian,

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it's really supporting
kids and families.

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If I had a teeny tiny two-second

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elevator speech,
I would say, “questions welcome.