Oh, The Places You Can Go: Meet Elizabeth DeZouche, ‘08 (Alumni Interview)*
What are you doing now? What paths led you to this point?
I am the Information Literacy Librarian at Texas A&M International University. I help library patrons, which include university Faculty, Staff, students, and campus visitors, with their research needs. I have been working as an academic librarian for over eleven years. I decided to become a Librarian (which usually requires a Master’s of Library Science in the United States) after I earned my undergraduate degrees at Georgia Southern. I love to help people find what they’re looking for but even more than that, I get to create better researchers. I want people to walk away with the knowledge and confidence to keep seeking information.
Did you major or minor in English? How did your English education shape you?
I graduated with dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Art History. My English degree nurtured my love for reading, but, more importantly, developed my skills in close reading and critical analysis. In our world of information overload, it is important—now more than ever—that we are able to interpret the information we are given and be able to read the bias in a variety of sources. We cannot trust at face value the information we find online and need to be able to determine the truly good news from the fake news.
What advice would you give to current English students or students considering English as a major or minor?
Do not listen to those that would tell you to learn a trade or get a more “practical” degree, unless that’s what you want to do. We need STEM but we need digital and media literacy too. We need citizens who understand science but we also need those who can communicate intelligently to others about how we can fix our problems, like climate change, homelessness, etc. Otherwise, we have all these problem-solvers out there who “lack the political will to do what the science tells us we must” (Wise 2019).
Can you tell us what’s on your bookshelf? Or, if you’d like, tell us about a book you read–recently or not-so-recently–that you would call a “favorite.”
My favorite book is Sabriel by Garth Nix, which I highly recommend to anyone who loves science fiction and fantasy. I’m currently reading a romance called “Reunited by the Badge” by Deborah Fletcher Mello.
Posted in alumni, Department of Literature Blog, interview
