Today’s interview is with Timothy Byram, an intern in the Collection Services Division.
Describe your background.
I was born and raised in central Arkansas until I was 12, at which point my family moved to Lynchburg, Virginia. I have lived in Virginia since, except for the year I took to teach English in Mexico before college.
How would you describe your job to other people?
I contribute to the diminutive army of minions working tirelessly on the UN foreign legal gazette project. I have recently taken an affinity for the publishing-friendly gazettes of Portugal and East Germany.
Why did you want to work at the Law Library of Congress?
D.C. is a nodal point of culture and history, and the Library serves as a concentration of those things. Not only does it have the largest collection of written knowledge in the world, but it is also a vibrant hub of exhibitions, performances, and presentations on any number of topics. It is hard to get bored.
What is the most interesting fact you’ve learned about the Law Library?
I think it is very interesting to see how the Law Library operates as something like an intermediate between other law-related areas such as academia, legislation, and private law practice. It collects and maintains a wealth of information available for use, but also regularly applies that information to contemporary legal issues in functions such as the Global Legal Monitor, or this blog, for example.
What’s something most of your co-workers do not know about you?
I am a jazz pianist. I am still living with the hollow promise of my culture that having musical proclivities will make you cool.