An Interview with Frank Corazzi, Library Technician

Describe your background

I am a native of the Washington, DC metropolitan area, but I have strong Italian roots. My father’s parents were immigrants from Italy. My mother was born in Italy and moved to the United States at the age of 11. My parents, who recently celebrated their 45^th wedding anniversary, met on a blind date and were married within three months. My sister is thirteen months older than me and I am two minutes older than my brother.

What is your academic/professional history?

I majored in Business Management at the University of Maryland, University College, where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management while working full-time to support myself. Throughout my life, I have held many different jobs. I have been a bartender, a bookkeeper, and a project manager. I have worked in a billing and collection service center providing customer service. I have also run my own business.

Immediately before joining the staff of the Law Library I worked for a consulting company, Stanley Associates. I had been an administrative assistant for Stanley on a contract at the US Census Bureau’s Library in Suitland, MD when an opportunity came up to work as a supervisor on a contract at the Library of Congress running and maintaining the Serial and Government Publications Division’s closed stacks. I worked there for a year and a half. When the funding ended on that project I was transferred to the Law Library’s closed stacks as the Assistant Project Manager. After four years on that task, I applied for a permanent position at the Law Library and was hired as a legal library technician with the Collection Services Division.

How would you describe your job to other people?

I am a technician. In my case that means I process incoming loose issues of the official gazettes of foreign nations. I prepare these materials for binding, scanning and microfilming. I believe the Collection Services Division is the foundation of the Law Library. We are the staff who keep the collection up-to-date, orderly and accessible for the use of our three main user groups – Congress, our research staff, and the general public. And my position as a legal technician is among the most critical for the Library’s operation. I like to point out that it is the technicians who put order into the chaos of the books and periodicals that fill this building. We are the difference between the institution being a heap of random items and being a library. For example when I process gazettes I am really taking loose issues of many publications and, through my work, turning them into a record for the ages. One could say that it is the technicians who shape the huge accumulation of materials that flow into this institution every day into the greatest, most comprehensive, law library the world has ever seen.

Why did you want to work at the Law Library?

Since I joined the staff here as a contractor, I always found it inspiring to think of the Law Library of the Library of Congress as the world’s law library. I think of it in the context of world history and there has never been anything like it. It’s an honor to have a hand in its upkeep every day.

What is the most interesting fact you learned about the Law Library?

I am especially astounded by the sheer size of the Law Library’s closed stacks. Nearly two football fields of compact shelving! If you can not imagine what millions of books look like, a glance at our stacks will open your mind.

What’s something most of your coworkers don’t know about you?

I am a big cat lover. In 2008, I adopted two precious little cats from the Washington Animal Rescue League.  Being a proud Italian-American I named my feline friends “Angelo” and “Milan”.  Angelo is a mixed Manx and Milan is a Grey Tabby/Abyssinian.  With their energy and personality around the house, I never have a dull moment.  If you live in a building with rodent issues my recommendation is to visit an animal rescue league.