Robert Heaton is the 2024 President of the Cache Valley Library Association
What is your library story?
In college, my career aspirations careened from classical music to the law, then to Spanish translation, and finally aiming to be an English professor. The latest steps along that path brought me to USU, where I collaborated with the talented librarians Sandra Weingart, Kacy Lundstrom, and Wendy Holliday in teaching freshman writing as a master's student. Rather than move on to a PhD in English, I stuck around in Logan after graduating, and in 2012 Jennifer Duncan hired me as an electronic-resources assistant at USU. I went to library school at the University of North Texas (online) and was fortunate to land a faculty job at the Merrill-Cazier Library right after graduating. I stayed long enough to receive tenure and began working at EBSCO Information Services in the summer of 2022, where I work with a fantastic team to help libraries implement the open-source library services platform FOLIO.
What do you hope to accomplish as President?
Broadly, my goal is to harness the enthusiasm of library-minded people throughout the valley to make life better for all of them. CVLA has a history of providing its members valuable opportunities for collaborative work, professional development, and personal networking. I hope to hold that torch high, promoting the value that the organization offers and encouraging its members to keep collaborating just beyond the bounds of their different employers and library types.
Who are your favorite authors? What are your favorite genres?
I'm not as prolific a reader as many library folks. I have long been a fan of low fantasy, where magic intrudes on the real world (Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" series and C. S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia" are longtime favorites). More recent discoveries include the "Jackaby" series by William Ritter, Stuart Tarton's The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, I think all of which my wife found for me in one way or another. Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" series and "Elantris" books are brilliant too.
What do you like to do for fun?
I enjoy baking (including learning the science of sourdough), visiting family, playing volleyball with friends, noodling on the piano (or listening to my wife play), taking backpacking trips with more lounging in a hammock than trekking for miles and miles, and watching either high-quality kids' movies or time-twisting sci-fi.
