Meet Connor Schwartz

Connor Schwartz began his employment with the Roseman University Library in 2016 while working toward his undergraduate degree. When he started, Connor worked as a library assistant. Since then, he has held many titles including administrative assistant, research and learning librarian, and liaison to the College of Dental Medicine.

After concluding his degree in history education from the University of Utah, Connor began having doubts about his career path. “I had planned on becoming a history teacher,” he recalled, “but I quickly realized that teaching at a middle [school] or high school was not for me.”

He continued, “While I was realizing this and wondering about my future, my supervisor here at Roseman approached me and asked if I’d considered getting my master’s [degree] and becoming a librarian.”

As it turns out, library science was the perfect fit for Connor. He shared, “I enjoyed helping others with their research and loved knowing that I could have a meaningful impact on their education.”

In 2021, he completed his Master of Library and Information Science and in 2022 he began working as a research and learning librarian at Roseman University’s South Jordan Campus.

“In my current role I act as the liaison for the College of Dental Medicine.” He explained, “I am responsible for making sure the library meets the needs of the College of Dental Medicine. I assist with research and act as the go-to contact for issues with EndNote and questions about accessing library materials. I’m also in charge of maintaining the library’s collection of books for the dental program. The majority of my time though is spent on research assistance.”

One of Connor’s most rewarding assignments has been refining the Roseman Library website. “Recently a fellow librarian, Emily Espanol, and I revamped the library’s LibGuides Homepage and presented about our process and the user testing that we performed at the Medical Library Association Conference in May of 2024,” he said. “I am both proud of the changes we made to the LibGuides Homepage and the work that went into it as well as being able to present at the Medical Library Association.”

Though Connor is fairly new to the role of librarian, he has been assisting classmates and library patrons with their research needs for a long time. “I started my first library job after graduating high school in 2012. I was a page at the Carlsbad City Public Library,” he recalled. “I held several positions there over the next few years until I became a youth services technician. In that role I provided reference services for the children’s section and most notably planned and presented a storytime called ‘Movers and Shakers’.”

In ‘Movers and Shakers’, we’d sing and dance to practice early literacy.” He continued. “‘Movers and Shakers’ was always centered around a theme based on the book we were featuring that week. I utilized my skills with multiple instruments and used the time to introduce young children to music. I even modified some songs to match our weekly themes. For example, I took ‘I Fought the Law’ from The Clash (1979) and changed it to ‘I Fought with Mom… and Mom won.’”

In his spare time, Connor enjoys playing instruments. He plays several including the bagpipes, trumpet, trombone, ukulele, and concertina.

“I love to play my instruments as a way to be creative and express myself,” he remarked. “It also can be immensely relaxing to just lay back and fiddle around on any of these instruments—the exception being the bagpipes since there is nothing relaxing about a bagpipe.”

He continued, “I also love to read, which—since I’m a librarian—should be no surprise. I particularly enjoy science fiction and fantasy.” He added, “Currently, I am alternating between reading Octavia Butler‘s Patternist series and a nonfiction book about dinosaur behavior.”

Given Connor’s educational background in music and history, there are a number of topics he enjoys discussing. The one he likes best, however, is prehistoric creatures. “My favorite dinosaur is the Stegosaurus,” he shared, “partly because it is such a bizarre creature, in its own right, and partially because of the wide range of theories that have been proposed about it.”

References

The Clash. (1979). I fought the law [Song]. On The cost of living. CBS.