Kathryn Beyer is about to graduate from the SJSU iSchool Post-Master’s Certificate Program. She has had a multifaceted career that blends the Army and librarianship.

Kathryn Beyer, ‘24, Post-Master’s Certificate
Washington, D.C.

Reserve Duty

Kathryn Beyer was born in Orange County, California and grew up in Michigan. She played the bassoon, and, as an undergrad, attended Michigan State for music education. To pay for college, she also joined the Army Reserve at seventeen, where she participated for ten years.

“In the Army Reserve, you put on your uniform and perform military duties one weekend a month and two weeks a year, usually during the summer. As an Army musician we did a lot of ceremonies, concerts and public outreach. One of the biggest missions happened in March, our Music in the Schools program, where we performed for students while in uniform, showing a different side of the Army that was not just about shooting weapons.”

Librarianship

Kathryn graduated college in 2008, which unfortunately was at the height of the recession, making it difficult to find employment. Her mom pointed out she loved books, so she decided to pursue a Masters of Library Science degree from Wayne State University. 

“For me, learning about a whole profession that’s about organization, and helping people find things, is right up my alley.”

At Wayne State, Kathryn was able to weave her love of music into librarianship. She especially enjoyed her summer internship at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra archiving historical concerts, stating, “I really like projects where I just get to dig into things.”

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra went on strike in 2010 so Kathryn applied to library jobs all over the country. Eventually, she was hired in the Lyon County Library System in Nevada as a Librarian II.

“The Lyon County library System is a very rural, small library system. It was a great learning experience because we had five branches and there were days when you would be the only person working a branch. You would have 200 to 300 people come in a day. For many of these people, it was their only source of internet and entertainment. The library was so crucial to the city we were in.”

Active Duty

Kathryn worked for the Lyon County Library System for three years. However, layoffs were happening due to the recession. Since Kathryn was the newest hire, she felt her employment was not guaranteed. Thus, she decided to leave the library and become an Active Duty military member.

“That was a tough decision to make. But I was lucky I had the opportunity to make that decision rather than it being thrust upon me, like so many people in the country.”

She was an Active Duty military member for eight years, which was a rewarding and stressful experience at once. 

“You have to get permission to go more than 100 miles from base, you need to get permission to go overseas, to leave the country, to do anything…You put in your time, you work hard, you make great memories. I got to make music literally all over the world for thousands and thousands of people, which is an amazing opportunity, but as life changed I reprioritized what I wanted to do.”

Special Operations Librarian

Kathryn left Active Duty in 2021 and began a job as a research and reference librarian for the U.S. Army Special Operations Libraries.

“The special operations center of excellence is the schoolhouse for the Army’s special operations – special forces, civil affairs and psychological operations. Each of those branches  go through a very intensive pipeline of education which includes six months of immersive language training, regional analysis and learning a lot about the countries you are going into and the people you are going to be interacting with. So our library serves those students and any deployed soldier anywhere. So I did a lot of research for people across the country.”

Kathryn and her team also conducted historical analysis to compare and contrast different military strategies.

SJSU

Kathryn worked for just over a year at the Special Operations Library. Towards the end of her time there, she enrolled in the SJSU post master’s certificate program. She wanted to “refresh herself,” because it had been some time since she had worked in a library. She chose the Digital Services and Emerging Technologies Pathway.

“I really wanted to get back into the education of the library field itself to make sure I was the best librarian I could be for my patrons. Obviously, technology has changed a lot since I did my masters course or since I worked as a librarian, so I really was interested in the digital pathway and emerging technologies because I wanted to really refresh myself in that sort of technology.”

What Kathryn is Doing Now

The main reason Kathryn left Active Duty was because she met her husband, got married and had two children. Her son is almost five, and her daughter is two.  However, her husband is still in Active Duty, so the army moved them to Washington, D.C. There, she began work for a company called Enterprise Knowledge, where she is currently contracted out to the Defense Acquisition University at Fort Belvoir as a research librarian.

“Anything that is bought, researched or developed, the defense puts money into. The people who do all of that buying have to be trained, and so the university supports that function of training the workforce…We also support the students and the faculty who are developing the courses.”

Kathryn specifically took courses at SJSU that she thought would help her in her new position.

“What was really nice is when I started my new job there were lots of changes I wanted to do, and I could pick classes that would fit the change that I wanted to make. I took User Experience because I really wanted to refine our website, so that way I could take the class and get that actual knowledge and put it into what I was doing.”

Kathryn is happy in her current position, and she is kept quite busy being a mom to two small children. When she does find free time, she loves to read, especially Sci Fi. She is enjoying the present and looks forward to what might come next.

 “With the military, you just take it one year at a time, one day at a time.”

Advice for Students

“Don’t confine your learning to just what’s in the classroom. Take what you are learning, apply it, and then continue to learn afterwards. I learned all this stuff about coding, but I am continuing to learn more and find ways to apply that knowledge so that I can use it at my job. I haven’t stopped learning just because the class stopped.”