WLA Member Profile: Jonathan Betz-Zall

Jonathan Betz-Zall has been a member of WLA for 30 years, and has had many significant roles within the organization. Many of you may be acquainted with Jonathan, but here’s your chance to delve deeper: 

Q. How do you like your job as Reference Librarian and Instructor at Shoreline Community College and Highline College?
A. I love being able to help people find the information and resources they need to be successful, both in person and online. I coordinate the virtual reference service, AskWA, at both colleges. It’s very fulfilling to mentor younger librarians as they learn the ropes of online question-answering. At Highline I also get to teach, both in the Library and Information Services program [Technical Services and Administration] and in the Life Ocean and General Sciences Department [Environmental Science and Biology]. The L&IS program is entirely online, so we instructors don’t get to meet our students in person unless they come to graduation!

Q. How long have you been a member of WLA?
A. 30 years.

Q. How have you been personally involved in WLA?
A. Primarily through interest groups: CAYAS, IFIG, RIG and especially the Social Responsibilities Round Table, which I chaired for many years. I served as IG rep for one term and then got elected ALA Councilor twice. I probably took that role too seriously—I sent the membership WAY too many email messages on ALA activities! 

Q. What does WLA mean to you and how have you benefited from being a member of WLA?
A. I am so grateful to WLA people from all over the state for befriending me right away when I arrived and allowing me to learn and grow in service to the association and the profession. I especially appreciate learning about how budgeting REALLY works by attending Board meetings and being very thoroughly introduced to effective lobbying through Library Legislative Day. And trying to get resolutions through a WLA membership meeting taught me how professional politics works.

Q. What is your favorite thing about libraries?
A. The very strong service ethic—directed both outwardly toward our community and inwardly toward each other. I know that I can visit a library anywhere in the state and feel a strong connection with at least someone on the staff.

Q. What is the last book you read? Or what are you reading right now?
A. The Discreet Hero by Mario Vargas-Llosa. My dance teacher is from Peru; I’m gaining lots of cultural insight from this novel set NOT in Lima.

Q. What area of the library stacks do you like to browse in for your own enjoyment?
A. Art books: Ancient Greek sculpture, painting and architecture.

Q. Where did you go to library school?
A. University of Washington, 1976, when it was still the School of Librarianship.

Q. Do you have any children? Any pets?
A. My children are grownups now, but some CAYAS people may remember my son David telling stories at a WLA conference many years ago. 

Q. What is your favorite spectator sport?
A. I’d rather participate in aerobic activity; currently I practice Zumba dance and ride my bike everywhere in preference to driving a car.

Q. What is your favorite travel destination?
A. The Duwamish Longhouse, in West Seattle. 

Q. What are your favorite foods?
A. Vegetarian Thai, local Native American foods.

Q. What is your favorite leisure-time activity, or what do you do to relax?
A. Go to celebrations of culture, e.g. NW Folklife Festival, various ethnic fests, and participate as fully as possible. Nine years ago we got to travel in far northeastern India, where we danced with a local cultural group in the “Thousand Drums” dance—these guys were once headhunters but now they just get drunk on rice wine. Then we sang “Home on the Range” in Achik [their language].Also, we have held monthly sing-along gatherings in our neighborhood for more than 25 years.

Q. What is your favorite music?
A. Folk-style singalong. The Seattle Folklore Society sponsors an annual “Rainycamp” gathering that I’ve attended most years since it began.

Q. Is there someone you personally admire and would want to emulate?
A. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I wear a button with his image every day.

Q. What are some words to live by?
A. “Try kindness first.”

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself?
A. It took many years but I have finally achieved a measure of inner peace by consciously lining up my activities with my core values. Since these are focused on serving others, I have found many allies, mostly by being willing to listen to just about anyone. The results have been most satisfying, and I recommend the process highly.