We Let Natalia Write Her Own Profile. It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.

by NATALIA ESTRADA

Let’s get the fun facts out of the way:

I share the same Southeast LA hometown as The Carpenters, the oldest operating McDonalds, and the owners of the Tapatio company (rich in money and in spicy sauce). 

The main photo for the Wikipedia article about the UChicago Scav Hunt? That’s me on the far left, in the green shopping cart. The British panel show QI showed that same picture in their “Sideshows, Stunts and Scavenger Hunts” episode. Ergo, I have been on QI.

I have been tracked and/or chased by a herd of deer, a couple of coyotes, some macaques, and an aggressive turkey. 

I lead a colorful life.

If you ask me why working in libraries seemed like a good career move for me, I have two answers: One, in 7th grade, I got assigned to work at our school library as an elective. I got to check out books to my classmates, organize stuff, and promise not to break the only computer in the library. It was a sweet gig. It set it in my mind as a possible job in the future AND a way to get around child labor laws. 

Answer number 2 is because it turns out that if you’re very good at finding socio-linguistic research to give the guy who said, “you talk weird,” so he can understand why he’s a massive jerk, a library might hire you.

How did I end up at UB, though? 

Answer: CA -> NV -> UT -> WY -> NE -> IA -> IL -> OH -> NY in a U-Haul

I will be serious for a bit and explain what I genuinely like about my work. I’m a big fan of learning random things. During my undergrad years at the University of Chicago (Anthropology A.B. for the pretentious), I figured out how to make human sculptures with saran wrap and packing tape for Scav Hunt. When I worked at UC Berkeley, I took some Library Carpentries workshops on R and Python because it seemed useful. I learned some XML in my indexing elective for my MLIS at Kent State (online edition). Pottery, the history of animatronics, how to not get bitten by a deer in Nara, Japan; learned all that for fun, and because I was told that I needed a hobby. Also, because deer bites hurt. 

So, when I meet with people for reference assistance, I am pumped! I love learning about their projects! Whenever an undergrad is afraid that I’ll find their project boring, I’ll say, “I know nothing, tell me more!” If they say, “I don’t know if this is a good topic for a digital project,” I say, “if someone can publish an article about lizards eating pizza, then your topic is good enough!” We end up finding useful resources, feel a bit better about it, and maybe learn that lizards like cheese pizza. It’s a great part of the job.

Other facts worth knowing about me: I co-facilitate the Research, Scholarship, and Writing track of New Faculty Academy with Jonathan Grunert. Sometimes, I edit the monthly Scholarly Communications newsletter, and people seem to like that. My spouse is faculty in the Linguistics Department, specializing in articulatory phonetics. My cat does not specialize in anything. I have been asked at least three times since moving here if I’m actually related to Eric Estrada. 

In conclusion, I have some cool co-workers here at UB, and I’m pretty sure University Libraries Communications is not going to let anyone else write their own profiles after this.