Drowned in information? One librarian can help
By Emily Bjorklund
She is more than just the reference librarian who knows everything.
Leanna Goodwater may arguably be one of the most knowledgeable people on Santa Clara's campus, but she offers a lot more than just friendly guidance through the chaotic world of research in Orradre Library with her musical and cultural passions.
Goodwater decided as an eighth grader in San Jose that she was going to be a librarian after helping out at her elementary school library.
Since then, her career path remained more direct than most students could ever hope for, as she landed her first professional job at the Orradre Library after getting her Masters in Librarianship from San Jose State University.
Goodwater has been at Santa Clara for over 25 years and says the best part of her job is working with Santa Clara students in an academic environment that is always intellectually stimulating and challenging.
Over the years she has admitted to seeing some outrageous things in the library, but her favorite story took place in the late 1980s, when a senior student did a fully costumed late-night rendition of "Hello Dolly," coming down the grand staircase to a gathering of onlookers from her graduating class.
Goodwater lives quite a unique life outside of helping students find articles and obscure anthologies of criticism for their research. She is a professional French Horn player, playing in a band, the Santa Clara orchestra and even for musicals on campus. Her latest Santa Clara appearance was in last year's Kiss Me Kate.
She fills her summer vacation with music workshops, in addition to travel, needlepoint and reading. She is a devout fan of science fiction in all its forms. She loves "Star Wars" films, her favorite ride at Disneyland is the "Star Wars" ride and her favorite TV show is "Star Trek." She enjoys science fiction for many of the same reasons that she loves being a librarian: it makes her think.
Her favorite book is "Pride and Prejudice," but Goodwater's literary tastes go beyond the Austen classic to the real classic literature. If she was on a desert island and had only three things, she would bring a copy of the "Illiad" in Greek, a Greek dictionary to help her get through it and the Bible because she would have ample time on a desert island to tackle those volumes.
Assuming that she is never actually shipwrecked on an island, Goodwater hopes to travel to Australia and Scotland one day. As for aspirations closer to home, she has always wanted to spend an evening gazing through the telescopes at the converted observatory on campus.
Although Santa Clara students frequent the library regularly, Goodwater would like to remind students that she is there to help and to always remember that "your librarian is your friend."
* Contact Emily Bjorklund at (408) 554-4546 or ebjorklund@scu.edu.