“UWI is like home to me. UWI gave me a lot of opportunities, and just like your own family is there to support you, UWI has supported me,” says Ms Mariella Pilgrim, librarian at the Alma Jordan Library (AJL). She has spent the better part of her adult life in service to the university.
Beginning her career at UWI St Augustine in November 1979, right after A-Levels through a recommendation from a family friend, Ms Pilgrim embarked on what would be a life-changing period.
“It wasn’t as if I was interested in being a librarian or anything of the sort. I came as a temporary Administrative, Technical, and Support (ATS) member of staff to work,” she recalls.
As a longstanding employee at the AJL, Ms Pilgrim helped shape the soul of the library, and in turn was shaped by it. Fuelled by the spirit and dedication to do good work, she ultimately rose to success through the ranks from an ATS library assistant to librarian. While she had no initial interest in becoming a librarian, Ms Pilgrim states that “I can safely say that I have enjoyed all the years I have worked there”.
As an ATS staff member, she worked hard and never denied herself any opportunities that came across her path. Starting off on a temporary contract, she was eventually given a contracted position in 1980 due to her performance.
Reminiscing about her time spent under Campus Librarian Dr Alma Jordan, she recalls a directive Dr Jordan often told the staff: “[At] 8:30 in the morning, you must have your pen poised to work, and do not put your pen down until 4:30!” There should be no opportunity to be idle. While to many this may seem harsh and rigid, Ms Pilgrim and her colleagues understood their roles as library staff, and enjoyed their time and the lessons bestowed by Dr Jordan.
Looking back at her library career, she speaks fondly of how The UWI has helped her. Motivated by librarians Lutishoor Salisbury and Bertriana (Kim) Gransaull, who took every opportunity to encourage her in her day-to-day work, as well as the other staff members who continuously encouraged her to pursue a career as a librarian, she took up a NALIS scholarship. Ms Pilgrim was able to pursue her master’s degree in Information Studies (MISt) in Library and Information Sciences at the University of Toronto from 2003-2004. This led her to working for two years in service to NALIS and, afterwards, she was able to take up a librarian post at the Main Library in 2006.
Throughout the years, Ms Pilgrim has served in every section of the library except the specialist sections, like Accounts, IT, and the Bindery. While many of her colleagues were hesitant to move around to other sections, her motto from early on became “every move is an opportunity to learn something different”.
But what, if anything, brought meaning to Ms Pilgrim’s 40-plus year career at the AJL? One might question how spending eight hours a day in an academic library can be fulfilling, but Ms Pilgrim found her purpose through service to others. For her, it was not simply the books, or the evolution of technology that she saw on campus and within the library that made coming to work each day worth it. It was more about the people. Her colleagues were like family to her, and she fondly remembers the student body.
Now, just seven months shy of her official retirement, Ms Pilgrim looks back at the high points of her career and what she will miss the most.
When asked this question, she answered without hesitation, “I will miss the interaction with the students.”
One major highlight of her time that she remembers fondly was her Library Liaison venture, The Librarian Is In booth. With the approval of the Faculty of Engineering, Ms Pilgrim set up her booth, similar to a lemonade stand, at the undercroft of the faculty. She waited with a laptop and pen poised, ready to assist any student who needed her guidance.At first, the booth was simply met with curiosity, with many students passing by to declare, “I just came to see what this is about”, but once word spread about the one-on-one assistance, the lines grew. Students were able to gain guidance for their theses, learn how to cite works correctly, and even find that resource they were having trouble locating.
When she saw how this venture was accepted, she knew she had found what she loved the most: the one-on-one interaction with students. Sadly, it could not be continued due to additional responsibilities. The Campus Libraries Thesis Boot camp for postgraduate students was another venture which she is passionate about as another opportunity for students to seek out their librarian for research assistance.
When it came to the evolution of the university and how it has influenced the country and region at large, a point must be made to both the physical structures and the expansion of the student body that was witnessed by Ms Pilgrim. One notable change was the fact that there were no longer heated debates held on the library steps as the population grew.
“The place to have discussions was the library steps. You would hear the students having all manner of debates there, even the nuts man participated!” she recalls.
While those days are gone and those heated debates are held elsewhere, Ms Pilgrim did note that many of the students she witnessed now held prominent positions locally and regionally. UWI was, and remains, a place to foster thinking and innovation. However, with the expansion of the university, and the many opportunities provided, Ms Pilgrim cautions that society at large must recognise the value of The UWI and not short-change the system.
She states, “UWI provides the space for Trinidad and Tobago citizens to become educated in areas needed to improve our country.”
