Terry Buford

Terry Buford
Alumni Class Leader
Master of Library Science ‘95
Rochester, NY

Note: The following profile is excerpted from an alumni career panel presentation Terry made to the students in the information and library science program in July 2004.

In 1993, I was a college graduate working at the library as a library assistant and dabbling in rental properties and home improvement. I was making decent money but I was getting more and more interested in the library and realized I was going nowhere without that MLS. My old boss and mentor at the Greece Public Library, in Greece, NY, pestered me into applying to SU when the distance learning program was announced. With our union’s tuition reimbursement program paying part and some loans I was able to swing the tuition. Thank you, Communications Workers of America.

Thanks to the MLS program’s concentration on management and IT, I graduated with skills that put me head and shoulders above many other library school’s graduates. My time in the school, 1993-95, was a period of great change as the internet took off and the possibilities seemed endless. Web sites were pop-up free and e-mail spam free. Students seriously asked and debated questions like “Do you think the internet will always be free?” And, “Do you think they’ll ever use the internet and email for advertising?”

After graduation I found I was competing with people who were graduating from library schools where students didn’t even need to know how to use a PC let alone understand the impact of IT on our profession!!! Thanks to SU I could already talk the talk and walk the walk. I started as Greece’s first systems librarian, managing all IT for a three branch operation. Eventually I got promoted to assistant director (over the heads of a few of those folks who didn’t know a frame relay from a framed print). Big hint there: After graduation---Keep current or become irrelevant.

On January 1, 2004, I moved to the Irondequoit Public Library to be the new director. As of July 1st, I am off civil service probation and have a permanent appointment to my dream job. When thinking about my job I am reminded of an old Peace Corps recruiting slogan: “the toughest job you’ll ever love”. Why will you love it? Because each day, just by doing your job, you will be stimulated and fulfilled and you will have helped make the community a better place. Does it get any better? In fact, here is my prediction: You will NEVER get a better opportunity to improve the lives of your fellow citizens than working as a public librarian. When people want to cast an informed vote, get a job, start a business, advance their career, get ahead, get healthier, learn how to do or get better at anything, they can start at the public library. If they want to enrich their lives with literature, the arts or the humanities they can start with the public library. No other local government department does so much, for so many, with so little. How? Because information empowers people. The ALA, in one of their PR campaigns, used to say, libraries change lives. They don’t. They give people the information they need to make decisions and to change THEIR OWN lives.

TRUE STORY: In my last job we were closing a small branch and preparing for the grand opening of our new huge main library. I was approached by one of the “regular” customers on the last day the library was open. He was an immigrant (from Tajikistan I think) and he was very abrupt and demanding as he looked at stock investment data every day. But, out of the blue he said to me, “I ’m really going to miss this place." He went on to explain:

“When I arrived in this country I spoke English poorly, and I could only get a job sweeping up at the local camera plant. I came to the public library and checked out all sorts of books, tapes, and videos and learned to speak English pretty well. My boss said he liked my attitude and work habits and would promote me if I had some college. So I went to the library, learned about entrance exams and financial aid and got into college. I mostly went to night school, worked hard and graduated and got promoted to foreman and kept getting promotions and raises. Eventually I became a manufacturing engineer, making a lot more money, so I went to the library and learned about investing. I invested in the stock market and real estate and I did quite well. Now I come to the library to study my investments. I now have enough money that I bought a nice big house and can send all my kids to the best colleges and retire whenever I want, no problem. And, I OWE IT ALL TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.” He became my favorite patron and his story is what we are all about.

So, when I am hanging out with my friends at the golf course or a Bills game, talk often gets around to: I hate my boss, or, my job sucks. I usually just smile and change the subject because I have nothing to contribute to that conversation.

Current and prospective students are welcome to contact me at tbuford@libraryweb.org.