This week’s interview is with Debora Keysor, a Legal Reference Specialist in our Public Services Division.
Describe Your Background.
I was born in a small town in southern Ohio (West Union) and lived there until I went to college. I had the great fortune to be raised by two wonderful parents (and two doting grandmothers). After graduating from law school and passing the Ohio bar exam in 1988, I lived and worked in Columbus until 1998.
When I married my high school sweetheart (in 1992), an active duty Air Force officer, little did I know that my permanent Ohio residency days were numbered. The AF took us around the world, from the deep south, to Germany (where I was able to visit eight countries), and eventually to the DC area, where my husband retired. We had planned on moving back to Ohio, where both of our families reside. However, because we bought high in the housing market (as we generally do in the stock market), we are reluctant to sell low (as we generally do in the stock market), so we decided to stay in Virginia for a while longer than planned. As a result, the “Colonel”, as he is affectionately called, began his second career at the Pentagon and I (happily) have been able to stay with the Law Library of Congress.
What is your academic/professional history?
I have a BS degree in Economics from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and a J.D. from Capital University Law School (Columbus, Ohio), where I was also an editor on Capital’s Law Review. I have been an active member of the Ohio bar for over 20 years. I have had the wonderful opportunity to work as a staff attorney for many judges throughout my career, at the Court of Claims of Ohio, the Tenth District Court of Appeals for Ohio, and the Supreme Court of Alabama. While with the Court of Claims of Ohio, I also served as editor. What piqued my interest in law librarianship was my five-year tenure as the research attorney for the Alabama State and Supreme Court Law Library. While there, I performed legal reference work, taught Westlaw, served as the liaison to the justices and their staffs, and attended my first American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) conference.
When we arrived here in 2005, my first job applicatio