Maryan Liban, a Kent State University graduate student, is double-majoring in library and information science and education.
She recently starred in “Beyond Books,” a two-part PBS docuseries. The show followed Maryan and two other aspiring librarians on a three-week road trip from Los Angeles to Chicago, where they interviewed several influential librarians along the way.
The goal of the journey was for each of the road trippers to see real-life examples of successful careers in libraries. At the beginning of the trip, Maryan intended to go into youth services but was not exactly sure what that would look like for her. Her goal in taking the trip was to get a better idea of what is possible in the library field and what her future might look like.
“I know I belong in libraries, and I know this is the space I’m supposed to be,” said Maryan in the beginning of the docuseries, “but I just don’t know how to break in.”
Libraries have always played a big role in Maryan’s life. She shared that, as the youngest child of a family of Somali immigrants, it was somewhat difficult for her to find her voice. It wasn’t until Maryan accompanied her mother to the local library and fell in love with reading that she found her first safe space. Though she originally went to college to become a dentist, she realized in her second year that libraries were her true calling.
Now Maryan runs a blog called Maryan’s List where she promotes children’s literature written by and featuring characters from marginalized communities. Diversity and representation in children’s books are important to her, and she expressed her desire for children to be able to see themselves on the shelves in a way she was not always able to when growing up.
Alongside her fellow road trippers, Maryan spoke with various library leaders throughout the United States about their path to librarianship and what advice they would give to someone at the beginning of their library journey. Though Maryan began the trip expecting to confirm her plans to become a children’s librarian, she walked away with the realization that the world of library careers was much wider than she’d previously thought.
“I think what I really took out of this was [that] I might be just limiting myself to only youth services,” Maryan said near the end of the trip. “...there are all these different types of librarianships, and I have all these different interests, and there’s a way to bridge all of this.”
After seeing for herself how many possibilities there are within her field, Maryan’s expectations for her future have broadened. The worlds of education and information are constantly evolving, and we cannot predict what changes progress will bring. In fact, as Maryan noted in the docuseries, it is possible that the perfect role for her does not even exist yet! No matter what, the impact that Maryan has already made in the book world by promoting representation and acceptance has laid a framework for her successful career.
