WJMN Member Spotlight
Jesse Leraas
Argosy University
Eagan
What is your job in the library? 
I take care of 1) Interlibrary Loan, 2) Collection Development for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Education, and Health Science Management (Before our restructuring, I collected for Business and a number of health science related programs as well), 3) Reference, 4) Information Literacy, 5) Library Assistant Supervision, and…wait, should I just send my resume? I’ve had the opportunity to copy catalog and manage our seriels collection as well.
How/why did you choose this field?
My first library job was as an undergraduate at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota. I loved it! I guess I felt at home being around all those books. Being an English major, I felt a natural draw to the library. Being a history major, I had originally considered a career as an archivist; however, the thought of being around all those musty, dusty old books was not appealing.
What is your favorite reference question, or most memorable library experience?
I’ve had my share of off-the-wall reference questions, like “do you have any books or articles on the history of nipple piercing?” But I have one particular student interaction that I’ll remember forever. There was a psychology graduate student who came into the library complaining that her landlord was not going to let her get out of her lease. She had to break her lease early because she was moving to Duluth for her internship. I had remembered something about a contract that the university had with a local apartment complex where students would be able to get out of their leases early. I sent her up to student services. They were able to take care of the student, and she saved somewhere between $500 and $1000! That was cool.
What would you like us to know about you? (Interests, family/pets, goals, etc)
That I’m a huge Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan! Yeah, it goes back a few years, but it was one of those cult classics that will, for me, never die. I’ve seen almost every episode thanks to U-Tube and my bootleg collection.
Tell us about your library (when it was built, size, special collections and/or programs, etc)
The original Argosy campus was actually located in Bloomington and was a joint campus for the Medical Institute of Minnesota and the Minnesota School of Professional Psychology. In early 2000, the two schools were purchased by Education Management Corportation (EDMC). They also purchased all of the Schools of Professional Psycology, which accounts for our campuses in exotic locales such as Phoenix, Seattle, Honolulu, and Washington, D.C. In 2003, ground was broken for our new campus in Eagan. As of last year, our campus took on the library responsibilities for the online campus. I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of traveling and presenting to graduate students. That’s been pretty cool. As for special collections, we do not carry any memoirs or loose leafs. However, we do have a large collection of psychological tests for use in our clinical psychology program.
Any tips or advice for other library staff?
A number of years ago, I read a book by Jeffery Fox entitled “How to become a rainmaker: the people who get and keep customers.” Now, this book was written from the perspecive of a salesperson; however, I found a lot of correlations between what he addressed in sales and how I could/should be providing library services to our students. From his, I adopted and modified a number of guiding principles for myself. Some of which include: 1) Always be on high receive…Keep your ears open; you never know what opportunities might come your way. 2) Always answer the question: Why should this student come to the library?...Because if you don’t, they might not come back. 3) Show them the value…because it’s all about marketing. 4) Onionize: peel back the layers…this falls right in line with providing quality reference services. 5) Keep the focus on the student…Let them know you’re there to help them. And most importantly 6) There is not University without the student…enough said. Corny? Maybe. But it works for me.
What are your favorite social networking applications and how can we find you?
I have a Facebook account. I’ll befriend just about anybody…even Sasquatch. I tweet occasionally. I can be found under seguelibrarian.
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