Mel DeSart, University of Washington, USA

Mel DeSart, University of Washington, USA

Q: What led you into your chosen profession?

A: At its very earliest point, the need for a part-time job when I was an undergraduate. I got a job in a library at the University of Illinois when I was a student there. I liked what I was doing and the kind of environment I was working in, so after I finished my first degree at Illinois, I worked for four years in the serials department in the library there. After that four years, I opted for library school. I got my first professional job exactly 20 years ago this year.

Q: What book are you reading right now?

A: Odyssey, by Jack McDevitt. I just finished The Sunborn, by Gregory Benford, on New Year's Eve.

Q: Who do you admire the most (past or present) and why?

A: Of people I actually knew, my late mother. She suffered through decades of pain and loss of function in her hands and feet due to severe rheumatoid arthritis and yet rarely went anywhere without a smile on her face and a positive mental attitude. Anything I've had to deal with in my life to date pales in comparison.

Q: What was the first and last music record you bought?

A: I'm pretty sure the first one I ever bought was 'Going Places', by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass (I played trumpet when I was a kid). Last one I bought is actually tougher - probably the latest Pat Metheny album.

Q: If you could have any career other than your chosen profession, what would you choose?

A: Either archeology, which is what my B.A. is in, or meteorology. I've always been fascinated with the global and atmospheric processes that produce the world's weather.

Q: If you could have dinner with any 3 people, past or present, who would they be?

A: Depends on the kind of dinner. For a fun, lively dinner I would choose a different mix than the threesome that follows. But for a 'satisfy my curiosity' dinner, and assuming any language difficulties are ignored, I'd choose Da Vinci (the ultimate renaissance man), Nostradamus (find out what he really meant by the text in his quatrains, instead of everybody's best guess), and Nikola Tesla (just always been intrigued by the guy).

Q: Money no option, where would you like to go on vacation?

A: Realistically, New Zealand. Unrealistically - the Alpha Centauri system. Relatively speaking it's close, and can you imagine looking out a window and seeing not our sun, but the two near solar-sized binary pair (A and B) in that system (Proxima would likely be too small, far away and red to be seen if you were near the other two).

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