Janice Wien and her Persistent Pursuit of a Meaningful Life!



Janice Wien

Small blessings happen during life in such soft and quiet ways, that it’s often not until many years later that you realize the true gift that you’ve been handed. For me, one such gift was having wonderful neighbor Janice Wien living next door during my early days in the Bay Area. Two Jewish girls transplanted to Berkeley for work and romance, we quickly bonded over our mutual love of plants (especially roses), gardens, great food, cats and books.

Fast forward about 30 years, and my blessing continues as Janice shares with us her endless thirst for knowledge and finding life’s passions. When I chat with folks who tell me they wish for a more meaningful life, I tell them about Janice. When I hear whining about how it’s too late to go down a new path, I remind them that many choose new paths at all points in life, and it’s never to late to seek more nourishing pursuits. I hope you enjoy reading about our client and my friend, Janice Wien. Be prepared to be inspired!

Janice, you and I first met as neighbors in Berkeley. I think it was our mutual love of gardening and trips to local nurseries that first brought us together --- so many plants, so little time! Tell us a bit about where you grew up, your education up to that point, and how you landed in Berkeley? What were you doing professionally, and personally, at that time in your life?

Let’s see, when Lynn and I met I was working in the accounting department at the San Francisco Symphony. I had been at UC Santa Barbara four years earlier but bailed after about 2 ½ years. I had racked up what then seemed to be a fortune in school loans. Since I was an English major, I had no idea how I’d pay back my loans, I panicked and dropped out. So began my 30 year journey to finish my B.A. I had been working for my dad’s accounting firm since I was fourteen so even though I didn’t love accounting, it was easy to fall back on those skills as a way to support myself.

I ended up in Berkeley because many of my friends had transferred from UCSB to UC Berkeley, and I just followed them. My boyfriend and I decided to move in together and rented the house next door to Lynn. I began my first forays into gardening, since then a life-long love, and learned so much from her.

As I got to know you better, I learned of your love for travel, and also your fascination with Israel as well as Hebrew studies, and your deep interest in Judaism --- it’s studies and culture. It would be great if you could share with us where this life-long interest --- perhaps passion? --- for Judaism began, how it evolved for you, and the many paths you’ve pursued personally and professionally in its pursuit.

I grew up in Los Angeles as a “cultural” or secular Jew and had no experience with religious Judaism. It wasn’t until I moved to Berkeley and discovered the Lehrhaus Judaica that I was able to approach Judaism in a way that was comfortable and meaningful for me, namely academically. I began studying Judaism, American Jewish and Israeli history and culture, and Hebrew at the Lehrhaus and I continue to study to this day. I am especially interested in Jewish fiction from the U.S., Europe, and Israel.

I’d been bitten by the travel bug during my first trip to Europe right after high school. The combination of my passion for travel and my deep interest in Judaism led to four trips to Israel, including two extended visits to study – once for an ulpan (intensive language program) at Hebrew University and once at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a modern orthodox yeshiva where men and women study traditional texts together.


Janice takes London's Hyde Park by storm!

A couple of years after we first met, my fledging business, Ballou Financial Group, was growing and I needed help. Lucky for me, you became the company’s first employee! Considering what a terrible “boss” I made, it’s a miracle you stayed my friend --- not to mention client --- all these years! But things changed for you, and you and Eric moved to Petaluma where you helped your then husband run his firm. Tell us about that business and what your role was in the company.

It took me a long time to work up the courage to leave the SF Symphony, but working for BFG was the perfect opportunity to move forward with my career. I’ve carried the top-notch organizational skills I learned while working with Lynn to my subsequent jobs and my personal life. Those skills were especially useful when I began working with my ex-husband. He had started a business, ETA, selling and supporting Great Plains accounting software. I began just “helping out” around the office -- organizing, paying bills, helping him interview his first employees, etc. – and as the business grew, I ended up working as the controller.

At some point you realized that the field of accounting and office administration as a life–time profession could not possibly satisfy your soul enough. You were looking for something that could become your own cause and calling --- a career that could sustain you for many years not just financially --- though that is certainly very important --- but most important for you, intellectually. So, what did you do to embark upon this professional quest? And what happened next?

Although I was pretty good at accounting, I never found the work fulfilling and spent many years feeling stuck. While I was with ETA, I had the opportunity to work part-time for a little while, so I took a series of classes at the Alumnae Resource Center in San Francisco (now the Bay Area Career Center) to try to find a new career. As a result, I did informational interviews with people in several fields and was most drawn to working in a library. I took a library skills class at Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) and also volunteered for a couple of months in the archives department at the Sonoma State University Library. I loved all of it! However, I needed to go back to work full-time so I started interviewing for another accounting position. After an interview for an accounting job with the SRJC Foundation, I stopped by to visit the instructor of my library skills class. One thing led to another, and I ended up doing an informal interview on the spot for a part-time temporary job in Periodicals. I walked out of the library with the strangest feeling – that when you truly want something, the universe just might provide the opportunity. I got that job, but since I needed full-time work, I also took a part-time accounting job in Petaluma. At that point, I decided I would do anything to get my foot in the door at the JC’s library, so for several months I spent my lunches driving from one job to the other each day. My manager had a hunch I’d be good at cataloging, given the detail orientation and accuracy I brought from my work in accounting, and she encouraged me to apply for a cataloging technician position. It took me two years to get a full-time permanent position but it was worth sticking with it.

I worked at SRJC library for ten years. All this time, I was slowly working toward finishing my B.A. through Excelsior College, an external degree program out of New York. As long as I met their requirements, I could take classes at any accredited college. I started going to college in 1974, received credits from seven colleges, and finally finished my B.A. in Liberal Arts in 2005 with emphases in English Literature and Jewish Studies. I took a break for a year during which I had the crazy idea to go for my master’s degree in library science. I loved working in a library, and it just seemed like the natural next step.

This all came about for you during a time of life when most would be settling into their career path, working up the ladder --- certainly not thinking about a mid-life complete change in career orientation! How did your circle of colleagues, friends and family react to the news? Did you feel pressured to “stick it out” in the field you were already in? Did you have mentors who championed your cause and helped you?


Janice on Abbey Road.  Can you hear the Beatles?

For the most part, my friends were very supportive of my decision to change careers and go to graduate school. They knew I had been unhappy in accounting for several years and that I wasn’t interested in advancing my career in that field. They weren’t thrilled with my decision to move to Illinois and were happy when I decided to do the distance program instead. However, once I started grad school, I had to go underground and didn’t see friends very often anyway. It was a grueling three years. When I wasn’t working, I was reading, writing papers, working on projects, and studying for exams. My employers were also supportive, letting me adjust my schedule so I could take live online classes once a week in the middle of the day from my desk.

I had an amazing mentor. The SRJC librarian who taught my first library skills class and helped me get the library technician job at the JC, was behind me every step of the way. He brainstormed and strategized with me, encouraged me, and wrote letters of recommendation. He was also a fantastic librarian. His intelligence, humor, and dedication to the college’s students were truly inspiring. When I was in my twenties, I also had a special role model – a cousin who worked as a legal secretary for many years. She was in her fifties when she decided to go to law school. After she passed the bar, she worked for a non-profit organization that represented seniors. Through her, I realized people could achieve their goals at any age, even late bloomers like me.

A major professional reorientation such as this does not come for free, right? And this isn’t a short-term program of study for a small designation! What was involved financially, and how many years did this take? Did you just “go for it” and quit working? Or did you work while attending school?

I was accepted in the on-campus program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but at the last minute decided to switch to their distance program. It’s easy to pick up and move when you’re in your twenties, but not so much in your fifties. I owned a condo, had a great job, was paying into the PERS retirement system, and had just met my boyfriend. Sometimes life is all about compromise. Because I needed to work full-time, it took me three years to complete the program rather than one (for those crazy overachievers) or two (most common) years. I missed out on the chance to work as a graduate assistant in U of I’s superb library and on all of the networking opportunities one has when they’re part of the program’s on-campus community. However, one of the requirements of the program was to attend on-campus sessions once a semester. I was still able to meet my cohort members and instructors and spend some time at that incredible university.

In the end, my masters cost me about $32,000. The cost would have been $40,000, but I received an Institute of Museum and Library Services Grant for Librarians Serving Community-Based Higher Education. To pay for the program, I “borrowed” money I had set aside for retirement with the hope that an MSLIS would allow me to increase my earnings, and I’d be able to put that money back. About a year into the program, job prospects for librarians started looking bad, but I tried not to panic and stuck with it. Miraculously, I was able to find a job with a good salary and great upside potential at well-funded library, so I’m slowly and systematically repaying my savings. However, there were also intangible costs -- three years of very little sleep, no personal life, and a dramatic increase in grey hair. I’ve been catching up on sleep and fun and found a great colorist in L.A., so things are working out just fine!

So, my friend, life comes full circle and you are now back in the L.A. area, in fact working for the Santa Monica Library! How did you find this position? What work do you do for the library? And what’s it like leaving NorCal and replanting yourself in SoCal?

I found my job as a cataloging librarian at Santa Monica Public Library through one of the many librarian listservs. It took me a year and a half to find the position. The job market for public and academic librarians has been hit hard by the sluggish economy. The competition for jobs is fierce. Newly minted librarians compete with experienced librarians who have lost their jobs due to budget cuts or who have been forced to delay retirement. Our professors and advisors told us that the more flexible we were about location, the easier it would be to find that first position. I was reluctantly looking at jobs in Kentucky, Arizona, and even Winnepeg. However, something told me I might end up back in Los Angeles. I’d spent years saying I would never move back, but I guess we all have our price! To be honest, I didn’t think I would get the job at SMPL and treated the interviews as “practice.” I was shocked when they offered me the job. L.A. or not, there was no way I could turn down such a plum position. The hardest part of moving forward with my career was leaving the Bay Area. Nightmarish traffic aside, L.A. has turned out to be a lot more fun than we expected. Even so, we still intend to come back to NorCal, even if we have to wait until we retire.

You and your partner, Dave, have gone through more than just a professional move. Uprooting two households in Northern California for a complete relocation to the L.A. area was more involved than just calling a moving company! Walk us through the planning for this major life event and lessons learned.


Ah, family life:  two braniacs on the couch with their dueling laptops!

In addition to the sadness of saying goodbye to the Bay Area, the move was challenging in other ways. Suddenly I had a little over a month to turn my life upside down and move to another city. I was moving from a two bedroom condo and David, my boyfriend, was moving from a 3 bedroom house. We knew we could only afford a two bedroom apartment, so we had to get rid of an unfathomable amount of stuff! Through networking with family and friends, we found a short-term rental in North Hollywood in a house that was a borderline teardown and spent two months going through possessions (most of which David had in storage until the move) and making countless runs to Goodwill. Our temporary living situation also allowed us to take our time and find an amazing 1937 duplex in a great neighborhood. It also took three months to find a tenant for my condo, so between fixing up my condo to rent out, no rental income, and the move, I felt like I was hemorrhaging money. All this while I was trying to master my first professional position in a new career. In the end, things worked out for the best once again. The major lesson learned here is do not hang onto stuff you don’t need! Start reading “It’s All Too Much” by Peter Walsh now! Then read it again before you move.

Tell us about more your field, Library Sciences. What is your particular area of interest now and how might that evolve?

Library science is a dynamic field. Librarians have often been the first to adopt new technologies, and that continues to be a challenge in a good way. Social media, e-resources, and digital preservation are just a few examples of current issues with which the profession is grappling. On the flip side, an unfortunate challenge is libraries and librarians have to prove their relevancy to administrators and tax payers in the face of successive budget cuts. Personally, as much as I love cataloging, my goal is to branch out and broaden my skill set by gaining experience on the “public” side of the library. I have an opportunity to work at our Information desk and hope to move toward working at the Reference desk as well. As I work toward getting over my shyness working with the public, I would love to eventually go back to working at a community college doing reference and information literacy instruction. I deeply believe in the mission of community colleges and have seen what a difference instructors and librarians have made in the lives of their students. I went into this profession with the hope I could also make a contribution to enhancing the lives of others.

You have always embraced technology, Janice, even in the short while we worked together it changed the tenor of our firm. How is your field being impacted by technology? And what do you think of the notion that paper books will soon be a thing of the past with all of us going totally digital? What does this mean for the future of Library Science?

People often ask me why we still need libraries and aren’t books going away. Given the circulation statistics at our library (1.5 million visitors and 1.8 million items checked out in 2010/11), I don’t see libraries or books going away anytime soon. Anecdotally, many people still love reading books they can hold, smell, and page through. Sure, some people prefer their Nooks and Kindles. I bought a Nook last year because I refuse to buy (and move) another book unless it’s special enough to have a physical copy. Dave and I often borrow e-books from the library to read on our Nooks. There’s also the issue of the “digital divide” – namely there are still many people who cannot afford to own a computer or e-reader. Many of these people rely on the public computers at libraries to search for jobs, do research, read and write emails, etc. They also rely on libraries for books they cannot afford to buy. That said, we are seeing a move toward e-resources. Personally, my job is becoming less about the traditional cataloging of “items in hand” and more about loading large batches of electronic books, audiobooks, and journals and then maintaining these large databases of information. The library’s Web presence (including mobile applications) is also critical, so web skills are important for some library positions. These days, many if not most libraries connect with their patrons through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest – you name it, so one needs to be comfortable using social media. At SMPL, I’m involved in a project to create a citywide intranet and am learning how to use a collaborative software application called Sharepoint. Of course Library Science is still about helping people find, evaluate, and use information, but it is also about keeping up with the technologies that allow us to do that in what will hopefully be better and more efficient ways.

What advice would you give to those readers who might be contemplating a complete and major career change mid-life? What might you have done differently and what do you think went very well?

For those contemplating a major career change mid-life, I would encourage you to go for it! Yes, a change like this comes with a fairly high financial and emotional price, but life is short. If you have the opportunity, grab it and make it happen. Do whatever you need to do to pursue your life’s work. Of course we can only do things when we’re ready, but coming from this late bloomer, I recommend you try to get yourself there sooner than later. That said, remember it’s never too late! From my own experience, I was continually amazed that when I was acting from a place of personal truth, things would seem to magically fall into place. I know a big part of that was just being able to recognize and seize opportunities as they came along.

Also, remember to rely on the help and support of friends and family. I have been fortunate to have Lynn as my friend as well as my financial advisor all these years. She has been there to give me support and solid advice through all of the major events of my life – my marriage, my divorce, buying my condo; going to graduate school and changing careers was just the most recent episode! I’d like to tell her I’m going to settle down and just sock away money for my retirement, but knowing me, she’d better not hold her breath.

Any other thoughts you’d like to share with us? If readers would like to chat with you, what’s the best way to reach you?

I’d be happy to offer support and encouragement to any of Lynn’s clients who are considering similar seismic shifts in their lives. The best way to reach me is at my personal email address: zeldaw8@gmail.com.


New additions to the family!

Janice, never one to shy away from a challenge, was kind enough to work on this Blog while mothering her two latest family additions, feral kittens rescued in the L.A. area.  Seymour and Marley, the newest small blessings, are keeping her and Dave hopping!   Don’t hesitate to reach out to Janice, just to say “hi” if nothing else.  And if you need a librarian extraordinaire --- well --- knowing Janice you don’t have to live in Santa Monica to piqué her interest and receive great advice.  Now MY challenge will be keeping up with her!   Thanks, Janice!  You never cease to motivate and encourage those around you, including me!