1. Name, job title and location
Emily Guhde, Director of Library Assessment, Lauinger Library
2. What do you do — in 10 words?
Use data and collaborate with colleagues to improve the library.
3. Where are you from?
Cleveland, OH, and my grandmother would like me to say it is the best city in the world. I loved growing up there, but I don’t miss the cold. I still visit several times a year, and I like going to the West Side Market and the art museum.
4. What are you reading (or watching or playing) right now?
It’s not unusual for me to have several books going at once. At the moment, I’m in progress with: Florida (Lauren Groff), Watership Down (Richard Adams), My Sister, the Serial Killer (Oyinkan Braithwaite), and Sula (Toni Morrison).
5. If you could be present for any event of the past, present, or future, what would it be?
I’d like to see Ruth Bader Ginsburg slide into oral arguments on Craig v. Boren.
6. What’s your superpower (or hidden talent)?
I can throw a bowl on a pottery wheel with my eyes closed. In college, I threw a lot of bowls for a fundraiser called Empty Bowls, and after the first hundred or so, your hands just know what to do. But I’m faster with my eyes open.
7. What are you learning right now?
I’m slowly working my way through An Introduction to Statistical Learning with Applications in R (James, Witten, Hastie, Tibshirani).
8. Where is your favorite "off the beaten trail" place to take guests to in DC?
A literal beaten trail - the Rock Creek trail system reminds me of the Metroparks in Cleveland and I love it.
9. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Get a Master’s degree in public administration. Leadership, facilitation, data analysis, and project management skills don’t go out of style.
10. If you didn’t work in libraries, what would you be doing?
Probably something similar in terms of job function, but in local government instead of libraries. I have a deep commitment to public service, and like libraries, local governments need to manage a lot of information and find ways to give access to their communities.