It is impossible to miss the passion in the eyes of 27-year-old Eugenia Liu, a former McIntosh High School student and Fayette County Library volunteer who will soon begin the next phase of her professional journey as an assistant professor in the Health and Human Services Library at the University of New Hampshire.
Eugenia moved to Fayetteville from College Park and spent her high school years attending McIntosh High School in Peachtree City. It was during those years that she was introduced to the Fayette County Library in Fayetteville and to library Director Chris Snell.
As a high school student, Eugenia was an avid reader who checked out “stacks of books” from the library. She continued her inquisitive ways after graduating from McIntosh and attending Ga. State University where she earned a degree in Art History. It was also during those years that Eugenia served as a volunteer at the Fayette County Library.
Snell said Eugenia’s passion was immediately evident. It was that passion and her budding desire to be a librarian that led Snell to have Eugenia work in all the library’s departments and learn administrative duties.
“Her interaction with library customers was No. 1,” Snell said. “She had a beautiful smile and was always helpful with our customers. I was very impressed with her.”
As for what catalyzed her interest in being a librarian, Eugenia said, “People sometimes think that being a librarian means standing at a desk and checking out books. But it’s more than that. I liked helping people find information for projects, and I liked the technical aspect.”
It was that desire to help that led her to continue her work in libraries. Eugenia continued her academic studies at the University of Buffalo working in the Health Sciences Library.
“I enjoyed working with medical students. Information mastery in the medical field is incredibly important,” she said, eyes sparkling and animated. “It’s important to take in the facts and then think critically about what those facts mean.”
In 2014, Eugenia earned a Master of Library Science degree at UB.
“The most valuable thing to give to students is viable information and the tools to use to evaluate the quality of academic publications,” Eugenia explained, noting that such information is updated continuously. “The best students are those who admit they don’t know the answer.”
And for Eugenia, her mission is to help students and faculty on their journey to find the answers.
Both in Fayetteville and, later in Buffalo, Eugenia was continuously exposed to the many facets of what it means to be a librarian. That work involves an entire system of information, from cataloguing to collection development, and from loans to and from other libraries to community events.
“It was eye-opening,” Eugenia said of her experience at the Health Sciences Library at the University of Buffalo which included working at the school’s Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s museum library where she was delighted to have the opportunity to work with curators.
Eugenia currently works as an Information Services and Instruction Librarian at Western New England University where she serves as Liaison to the College of Pharmacy and the Sciences. Her work there also includes teaching information literacy. For Eugenia, knowledge and research are of paramount importance in evidence-based medicine.
Eugenia in mid-September will be transitioning to the next phase of her personal and professional journey, and to her new post at the University of New Hampshire where she will serve as an assistant professor in the Health and Human Services Library.
And for Snell, the next phase of that journey is the continuation of what she saw in Eugenia from the beginning.
“Eugenia did an awesome job and could handle any load,” Snell said, her own animation and passion evident. “I think of her as a daughter. I’m incredibly proud of her.”
