Meet MLC Monday: Lawrence Smith

We have been sharing a closer look at Mississippi Library Commission (MLC) staff with Meet MLC Monday for nearly five years now. Some people stay only a short time period before deciding that working at a library was not what thought it would be. Some, however, stay, evolve, and prosper, like Lawrence Smith. He is this week's Meet MLC Monday staff and he has been at MLC since October of 1996. 

While Lawrence is still our Patent Librarian, he has added a new title since we last featured him in January 2016. He is now also our Collection Management Services Director, taking on a supervisory position and assisting with cataloging our new books and other materials. Working with patents isn't as dull you might think. Lawrence has dealt with a wide variety of inventions over the years, including a vibrating toilet seat and, on one memorial occasion, a patron who wanted to provide a demonstration of his... "business" chair.

Lawrence says, "When I first started working at MLC, we were pulling books from the shelves to view patents and trademarks. Now everything is digitized and web-based. Cataloging was done by card catalog. Now it's digitized, too."

We asked Lawrence some hard-hitting questions about himself. It turns out he is a dog-loving coffee drinker who likes the cold. Who knew?! He also told us that, if he were to set up two characters from different books, he would choose Robin Hood and Cinderella. "Cinderella was very humble and hard working. Robin Hood was more of a villain and Cinderella, I think, could tame the wild side of him."

Stay tuned as we check back in with other long-time MLC staff from time to time here on Meet MLC Monday. Until next time, happy reading!