Alongside Quincy Jones, our library is saying farewell to another longtime student employee graduating in December. Virginia Fort, who has been with us since Fall of 2008, began as a work study hire, but soon transitioned into a permanent part-time role in the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) department. Before she settled into finals week, we sat down with Virginia for an exit interview, to see how she felt about her life as a student and worker at UTC:
What was your impression about the library before working here? The library does a lot more than I ever realized. There’s more here, that I wish I had taken advantage of sooner. Like movies.
What will you miss most about working at the library? The Interlibrary Loan department is its own little entity. I really got to know everyone. It felt like a family, but was fun at the same time. So I’ll miss the people. They’re awesome and crack me up sometimes. I’ll be coming back to say hello.
What will you miss least about working at the library? Crazy citation requests sent to Interlibrary Loan that make no sense.
What will you miss most about being a student? Getting to see people every day. That’s a big difference between college and the workplace. I’ll also miss the professor I had for Scientific Writing. We still say hello to each other.
What will you miss least about being a student? Doing homework and late night studying. That’s for sure.
What’s next for you? I really enjoy the South and want to stay here for grad school. Eventually I’ll pursue Occupational Therapy. But for now I’d like to get more involved with Chattanooga CRU. I became familiar with them starting Freshmen year, through events like campus cookouts or weekly Bible Study meetings. God’s pulling my heart to go in this direction right now.