Staff Profile: Kathryn Trowbridge, Secondary Learning Centre Librarian

Staff Profile: Kathryn Trowbridge, Secondary Learning Centre Librarian Our profile this week is Kathryn Trowbridge, our Secondary Learning Centre Librarian. Each week we will feature a member of staff across all areas of the school including teachers, admin staff, support staff and more, to get to know members of our school family a little better. Our profile this week is Kathryn Trowbridge, who joined us this year as the Secondary Library Learning Centre Librarian.

Hello and welcome!  I am the new librarian in the Secondary Library Learning Centre.  My name is Kathryn Antigone Trowbridge but, please, call me KAT.  I come to you as a six year resident of Abu Dhabi, originally from the USA (Arizona, most recently).  

In my past work life, I was an attorney and administrative judge but coming to Abu Dhabi let me try something entirely new and I went back to my book roots.  I have worked in a reference library, three bookstores, a map library, a photo library, and several school libraries.  I volunteered with Raha’s primary school library and was the inaugural school librarian for Repton Fry campus on Al Reem.  

I have a Master’s Degree in Information Science (Library and Information Sciences) from Rutgers University where I concentrated on Digital Technologies and Youth Librarianship.  I love books (much to my husband’s chagrin and Amazon’s delight) and I love technology.  I don’t see libraries as free book shops but as centres of information with an obligation to help students understand their role in using and creating positive information exchanges.  Books are an incredible way to share good information and Fiction is how we all practice and improve our reading skill and expand horizons.  

For my part, I love a good dystopian/sci-fi/time travel novel.  I dabble in Fantasy and Realistic Fiction as well as armchair/pop culture science and history. I married my college sweetheart during graduate school and we have three kind, sarcastic, smart, and (at times) exasperating kids.  Our oldest, Aiden, is in the US at University studying history, biological anthropology, education (and probably underwater basket weaving, who knows!)  Emory, our daughter, is a writer and burgeoning social justice feminist in her last year of IB DP.  The ‘baby’ of the family is Mason, age 14 , who loves video gaming, all things nerdy, and our dog.  The rest of us just tolerate him (the dog, not Mason.)  

In my free time, I love to boat, play games (video and tabletop) with the family, do all sorts of nerdy things, and travel.  I read (obviously) and am an early adopted of tech.  Some of my worst qualities are that I can double conversation times easily and I write incredibly LONG emails, though I try to summarize them in a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) section.  I love to listen to audiobooks on my commute and with my family.  We can sometimes be found sitting around Alexa, giving her our rapt attention, as she tells us a story from Audible.  

Right now, I am listening to a Harry Dresden fantasy novel, recommended by my oldest son, with my husband (who keeps falling asleep so I may NEVER finish it).  I am also listening/reading “Nobody’s Victim” about a victim rights attorney who specialises in relationships (IRL and online) that have gone horribly wrong.  And lastly, despite my deep love for parentheticals, I always try to work to increase the net happiness of the universe.  

I have been having an amazing experience at BIS AD so far.  Please feel free to stop by your library and say “Hello.”