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Megan McIntosh, ‘23, is a former English literature major who is currently a Library Desk Associate at Frederick Community College and pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Maryland, to begin in January. Read more about her experience at UMBC and journey to graduate school below:

I studied English literature at UMBC because I have always had a deep appreciation for expression. From a very young age, I have been a self-proclaimed writer and artist, and I have always enjoyed novels, films, and other projects of similar artistic nature. By the time I started college, I was eager to develop the ability to interpret fiction, and I hoped UMBC would help me cultivate such a skill. In that regard, my professors far exceeded my expectations.  I not only learned how to analyze texts through various lenses and write my own observations in a meaningful way, but I also learned how to “live like a writer” in creative writing classes and collaborated with my peers and Special Collections to build a virtual exhibition of George Cruikshank’s illustrations and manuscripts. The meticulous care that went into selecting which of Cruikshank’s works should be in the collection, along with the thorough research required to ensure the descriptions of each piece were accurate, revealed to me the importance of protecting and promoting artistic artifacts in order to preserve our access to past ideologies. Taking part in such an important task is what sparked my interest in curation and began my path toward librarianship.

Since graduating, I have worked as a learning assistant and, more recently, a Learning Associate in the Frederick Community College Library/learning commons. This job is one I feel quite passionate about, and it has led me to pursue a Master of Library and Information Science at UMD. I hope to eventually work in curation–whether in a museum, special collections department, or university library–where I will have the privilege of building meaningful collections that offer insight into previous perspectives and inspire future ones.