Introduction

Hi everyone!

I’m Srinitya, but go by Nitya (pronounced “nit-yuh”). My pronouns are she/her. I’m an Illinois transplant, you could say. My home state is Ohio, but I’ve considered Chicago home for the past three years.

Image Source: Me (photo taken with smartphone)

This is my last year at Dominican, if all goes well I hope to graduate in May. I hope to be an archivist or work at a medical library, but anything can happen and interests change. Other than reading 50 books a year, I like to write, go to concerts and visit museums, libraries, and bookshops in my spare time.

My relationship with social media is rather two-folded. On one hand, I use it to keep in touch with friends and family (especially if they live in other countries or don’t like to text), on the other I feel that it can cause more problems, like misinformation and stereotypes. In some ways it’s helpful in keeping up with world events, especially in real time or topics which don’t get covered in mainstream media. I comment fairly regularly, but also repost/reblog posts which I find interesting or deserve more awareness. If I post anything original it’s usually photos or prose.

I’m a millennial/borderline gen X, so my introduction to the Internet + social media happened fairly early. While Facebook and Twitter (I am not calling it anything else) were in the beginning stages when I was surviving middle and high school, I connected with friends and family through other ways, like Yahoo/MSN Messenger and AIM (rest in peace) and online forums. I tried not to give out personal information, especially my real name, where I lived and how old I was. Nowadays, social media encourages people to use their real names and show sensitive information, which I can’t help but feel wary of.

More recently I use social media to keep track of my reading goals and local/cultural events (Goodreads/The Storygraph). Once I interned at an independent bookstore, so using social media to promote events and programs was highly encouraged. I do not use Facebook, Instagram or Twitter much, since they’re highly distracting.

As a (future) librarian I will definitely need to know social media, and how to use it effectively for patrons and certain institutions. Since social media keeps on changing, I want to keep up with it as best as I can, and at the same time, ensure that the mission of providing reliable and accurate information isn’t compromised.