Lara's Tiny Corner of the Web

Yep, I'm a dancer and a librarian. Since you're reading my web page, presumably you want to know a little bit about me, so here goes.

Me clogging! Dancin'... For the uninitiated, those are clogging shoes on my left-side banner. I've been dancing in some form or another since I was 7, and have been clogging on and off (mostly on) for 21 years. Dance means the world to me...it is my stress relief, my mood lifter, my peace-bringer. I dance with the Crescent Cloggers in Concord and Salisbury, NC. We've got everyone from 3-year-olds to old ladies, beginners to advanced, and it's a truly fun group. We perform at various events around the area - fairs, parades, festivals, you name it. I also do country line dancing, but not often anymore. The picture there is from the 4th of July parade 2003 in Faith, NC. It's not easy dancing on the back of a moving flatbed truck, but we manage! :)

Librarian... I am the Reference/Periodicals Librarian and Library Coordinator at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, NC. For the library types, this means I do: all aspects of reference including desk service, collection development, library instruction, research guide creation, etc.; all aspects of periodicals from selection to check-in to bindery; many administrative duties (Coordinator is our version of director, though I don't have all of the usual director's responsibilities); all aspects of ILL; all of the library webpage except the archives section; and a bunch of other little stuff. Somewhere in between all this I also teach a section of Freshman Seminar and serve as a freshman advisor. My BA is in biological anthropology and anatomy* from Duke University and my MLS (Master of Library Science) is from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

*In a previous life, I worked as a technician at a science museum in Charlotte, Discovery Place. My primary task was specimen preparation, mostly freeze-drying. While I loved this job, I decided that there wasn't much of a future in dead animals, and rather accidentally discovered librarianship, which I have found I also love.

Other Stuff...I am a cat lady. We have quite a few! My husband turned me into a cat lover, and I am eternally grateful. We rescue and foster cats, and volunteer for Cabarrus Pets Society. I strongly encourage spaying and neutering, keeping cats indoors, and adoption of shelter cats. I strongly, strongly DIScourage declawing. The cat care buttons scattered throughout all my web pages contain links to relevant sites, from Catstuff (which offers the care buttons and some of the other cat graphics here) and other places. If you want to understand why I feel so strongly about these issues, please visit these sites and learn. If it saves one cat from losing its knuckles, getting run over, or getting euthanized in a shelter, it's worth it. I also have a cat rescue page. Learn about my kitties and our rescue hobby, along with local rescue info.

I am also a voracious reader. I am particularly fond of mysteries, although I will read most anything. I love dinosaurs and primates, and read a lot about them too. My newest hobby is geocaching, which is fun and a good excuse to get outside! I enjoy messing around on the Web, and I spend far too much time on Ebay. I went to see both Star Wars prequels the day they opened. I love country music, though I'll listen to nearly anything. I rarely watch TV unless there's a hockey game, Duke basketball game or good cartoon on. Or "Whose Line is it Anyway" which became my favorite show the first time I watched it! In addition to the cats, I have a dog (Jack), also a rescued stray, and we have chickens and a Betta named Max. I love hockey and would still obsess over the Charlotte Checkers if I had time. My home computer is a Mac Powerbook and I wouldn't trade it for anything (except in a few years another Macintosh!)

Of course, by far the most important things in my life are the people. I have the most wonderful husband you could ask for, a great family, and some incredible friends. And soon we will be adding a new family member to the mix: we are adopting a baby from China. But that's a whole other website!

Crescent Cloggers

G.A. Pfeiffer Library

Lara & Brian's Cat Rescue Page

Lemurland, my blog

Kimbi Daniels Fan Zone (my fave hockey player)

My Lemur Page

Umm, define "maintain":

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Goodbye: A Bibliography of Endangered Species Websites