What do librarianship and cycling have in common?
For Ramona Collins, both are powered by compassion, care, and a sense of community.
In her career, Collins has navigated an unexpected path from the legal profession to the library world. As a librarian at UC Berkeley, she helps people find the information that they need, and is a fierce champion of equity, inclusion, and justice.
As a cyclist, Collins has taken a different kind of journey, riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles six times — logging more than 3,000 miles down the California coast — to raise awareness and money as part of the nonprofit AIDS/LifeCycle.
Collins’ next adventure? Retirement. On June 26, she’ll celebrate a twin milestone: the final day of her 24-year career at the Berkeley Law Library and her 60th birthday.
Collins was recently named a winner of UC Berkeley’s Distinguished Librarian Award, recognizing excellence in librarianship and exceptional work in fulfilling the university’s missions of teaching and research. This year’s other honoree is Lisa Ngo, assistant head of the UC Berkeley Library’s Sciences Division. The biennial award is funded and presented by the Berkeley chapter of the Librarians Association of the University of California.
Colleagues have praised Collins for her courage, humility, humor, creativity, and unwavering dedication to helping others, embodying the very best of what it means to be a librarian.
We caught up with Collins on the eve of her final state-spanning trek to talk about cycling in a “love bubble,” her favorite part of being a librarian, and how she’s feeling as the finish line of her career draws closer.
What inspired you to become a librarian in the first place?
It wasn’t my first plan.
I worked in the legal field for a dozen years, and then I landed in a job that I just hated. A career counselor suggested librarian as a job that I would be suited for. I said, “Oh, well, that’s very nice, but I understand you need a master’s degree, and I have two very small children.” So I found myself a better job.
Five years later, I applied to grad school, and then it took off from there. (Collins is a “double Bear,” having earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish at UC Berkeley in 1987 and a master’s degree from the university’s School of Information Management and Systems, now known as the School of Information, in 2002.)
How would you describe the work you do at the Berkeley Law Library?
I run the access services department. I hire, train, and supervise all the student employees who work at the circulation desk. I’m also part of the reference team, so I answer questions and work shifts at the desk and through our online chat service. We also provide some paper course reserves, so I process those every semester.
What do you love the most about your job?
I like it when I can answer a question — when I find something that’s going to help a person with their project, especially when I’m stumped at the beginning of the search.
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
I did some research into the person who printed the very first volume in the set of California Supreme Court decisions. (The resulting article examines how a little-known legal dispute led to a state Supreme Court decision affirming the Legislature’s authority in appointing executive officers. The piece appeared in the newsletter of the California Supreme Court Historical Society and underscores the importance of preserving legal history.) I was just fascinated with that time period. While I was working on that research article, I was a Townsend fellow. That was helpful and very fulfilling.
I also made some pretty big improvements in the access services department after I took it over in 2015.
In 2018, the Law Library migrated its integrated library system. (An integrated library system allows users to find and access books and other materials, and library workers to organize and manage collections.) That involved a lot of data. I helped make sure that all of the data migrated over and made sense when we got it into the new system. When we first went live, there were some kinks to work out, and I was able to respond to issues that arose and come up with solutions.
You were an inaugural co-chair of the Library Equity and Inclusion Committee. Can you talk about that?
It feels like a big accomplishment to help get that up and running. Corliss Lee (an instruction librarian who co-chaired the committee with Collins) and I worked together and built the plane while we were flying it.
We spent a lot of time building a foundation. But building the foundation has to happen before you can build the house.
It’s disheartening to see the nationwide backlash against this kind of work. But I feel good about helping set the committee in motion, and I like watching it thrive as I exit.
On a personal note, what do you like to do for fun?
I like riding my bike. I have ridden my bike from San Francisco to L.A. five times now, and I’m about to go on my sixth trip. I have been biking as part of the AIDS/LifeCycle community since 2014. (After more than 30 years, the AIDS/LifeCycle tradition has come to a close. This year’s ride, which ended June 7, was the last.)
I found out about the ride while I was on a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon in 2013. One of the leaders of that hike was involved with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and was going to ride the following weekend. We were talking as we were hiking over this four-day trip, and he said, “If you can do this, then you can do that ride.” So I signed up.
The ride brings together a fantastic group of people. They talk about it being a “love bubble.” This community suffers backlash and oppression. But while you’re on the AIDS/LifeCycle, everybody has a singular purpose, and nobody is out to judge you in any way.
What thoughts or feelings are coming up as you approach your retirement?
I am excited to shift into this new phase.
At the same time, it’s a facing-your-mortality moment. I’m thinking about getting older and trying to stay independent for as long as possible. Not being able to take care of myself looms in my nightmares.
But I’m looking forward to traveling. I have a son who lives in Santa Barbara. That’s a pretty nice place to visit.
I could just tootle up and down Highway 1 for a good while, looking at pretty beaches.
You’re being honored with the Distinguished Librarian Award. How does it feel?
I’m immensely honored. At the same time, I reflect on how there are other folks who could easily have won this award.
The day that the email came out — the email to the two people who had won the award — all of the people who had worked on the nomination in the Law Library were hovering around my office, waiting for me to read it. Then the director comes into my office, and she says, “Have you looked at your email?” I read it, and I’m like, “Are you kidding?” It was a complete shock.
It definitely feels good to be recognized. I have enjoyed being part of the Law Library team. I work with some wonderful folks.
This Q&A was edited for brevity and clarity.