Newest staff member goes back to school to get MLS degree

Whitney Tackett is the newest addition to the staff at the Mount Pleasant Regional Library.

The year 2009 was uncertain for many college graduates. The job market plummeted and landing a job in line with one’s degree became hard to do. Many graduates started thinking outside the box to hunt for work. Whitney Tackett was one of them.

With a newly received degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from Winthrop University and no prospective job in that direction, she went into a jewelry store and asked if they were hiring and following an interview she became their newest employee.

Whitney Tackett, one of our new and enthusiastic employees, was born two months early and she became one of the first babies admitted to the Medical University of South Carolina’s newest acquisition, the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).

After spending a month, first in the incubator and later in a regular crib, her parents were allowed to take her home to Summerville.

She lived in the same house with her parents and her older brother until she moved into the “country” with her boyfriend.

She went to Stratford High School where, in her junior year, she became involved in broadcasting and journalism, which led her to choose Integrated Marketing Communication as her college major.

Working in a jewelry store has its pros and cons. Whitney loved helping people choose something special for customers, and her employer made it possible for her to attend the diamond and colored gemstone courses at the Diamond Council of America to become a certified diamontologist and a gemologist.

On the other hand, she had to work most of the holidays and missed all of the social family gatherings.

After four years Whitney decided she needed a career change. Based on a suggestion from her friend at The Citadel to pursue a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science, she enrolled in August 2012 at the University of South Carolina. In January 2013 she applied and was hired at the Mount Pleasant Regional Library.

Although she is working full-time in our circulation department, Whitney is not able to cut her ties with her old job completely.

She still works one day a week in the jewelry store. The extra money comes in handy for paying her tuition at USC.

For storytimes, please call 849-6161 or visit ccpl.org.


Mirjam Veldkamp is the young adult specialist for the Mount Pleasant Regional Library Branch (1133 Mathis Ferry Road, 843-849-6161, www.mtplibrary.blogspot.com, www.ccpl.org,
http://www.berkeleyind.com/article/20131015/MN04/131019854/-1/BI08/newest-staff-member-goes-back-to-school-to-get-mls-degree
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