Ashley Dickerson, Powerlifting Librarian

Ashley Dickerson is the acquisitions and cataloging librarian for Finland and the Baltic states.

Tell us about your background.

I was born in Washington, D.C., and lived in the area my entire life. My family is from North Carolina. I studied anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park. My focus was biological anthropology with a subfocus in archeology and a minor in creative writing. I’ve been at the Library for most of my professional career. I started as a work-study student during my senior year of high school at Forestville Military Academy, left for college and came back as a contractor in 2013 after I graduated.

What brought you to the Library, and what do you do?

I told myself when I was a workstudy student in the Regional Cooperative Cataloging Division (RCCD) that I wanted to come back, because I truly enjoyed this place. I worked with so many languages. I always had an interest in languages prior to that experience, but what I learned deepened my interest. I worked with Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Persian, Arabic and Hebrew. At the time, I had studied Spanish and French in school and Finnish on my own, so all of the newer languages were so exciting. I went off to college, but I never forgot the Library. I visited when I could, and I always made sure to see who came and went. I made sure to always find David Maya Hernandez. He was my rock in RCCD when I was growing up, and now we work together in the Germanic and Slavic Division. For me, working at the Library was meant to be, I think.

What are some of your standout projects?

My favorite would have to be the DK Reclassification Project for the Baltic states. DK is the classification for the history of Russia, the Soviet Union and former Soviet Republics. Most of the countries I work with (Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) were occupied by Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union or both. Finland was occupied by Imperial Russia from 1809 to 1917. The Baltic states were occupied by Imperial Russia from the late 17th century to 1918 and by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1990. Regardless of their independence, those countries were classed in the DK schedule. Finland moved to the DL schedule, which covers northern Europe and Scandinavia, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. But the Baltic states remained under DK even though their independence from the Soviet Union was restored between 1990 and 1991. Last year, I was asked if the Baltic states would be receptive to reclassification. I asked when I could start. I’d wanted to begin with at least Estonia when I first became a librarian in 2017, but I did not yet have the knowledge to make the massive changes needed. I’m passionate about what I do and enjoy the countries that I work with, so this to me is important work. The DK Reclassification Project did not start with the Baltic states — it began with Ukraine, which was moved from under the history of Russia to the history of Ukraine. But when I complete the project for the Baltic states, hopefully later this year, I will consider it one of my major achievements.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy finding new restaurants to go to with friends. Food is culture, and sharing a meal with someone is to see them, know them and love them. I’m truly a nerd at heart. I’m always watching a new anime or trying to tackle my manga backlog, but I keep adding four titles for every one I take off my list. It’s a toxic cycle.

What is something your coworkers may not know about you?

I did archery and kendo in college. I want to get back into archery, but judo and powerlifting have my attention at the moment.

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