Joan Petit at home at American University in Cairo

When Joan Petit (MSLS '06) was a little girl, she knew she would probably live overseas someday. After all, her parents were global travelers and her father ran a hospital ship called Project Hope in the 70s that sailed from San Francisco to Tunisia and other parts of Indonesia. But it wasn't until she adopted her two sons, Solomon and Fiseha from Ethiopia that Joan became increasingly interested in northeastern Africa—especially the areas around the Nile River.

Last spring, a position for an instruction and reference librarian was posted for the American University in Cairo (AUC). Joan applied. When the job was offered, she was in the middle of processing adoption paperwork, and decided to "go for it." She and her husband, Kurt, moved to Cairo, Egypt.

Joan says that the library at AUC runs much like a typical American academic library. "I teach two sections of LALT 101, the required information literacy course," said Joan. "I work at the reference desk. I help administrate LALT 101, and right now I’ve spent time working on a curriculum revision." She says that the lifestyle in Cairo is great with incredible benefits including paid, furnished housing; six weeks of annual leave; plane tickets to the US for her and her family; good salary; several paid holidays and a seven hour workday. The downside is feeling somewhat isolated professionally; however she keeps up with blogs and listservs and connecting with colleagues she met at SILS.

While at SILS, Joan was president of ILSSA in 2005 and she was awarded the Service to the School Award by the SILS Alumni Association in 2006. In addition, she was involved in the Carolina Academic Library Associates (CALA) internship at UNC Libraries, which she says was incredibly valuable for her professionally. After graduation, she worked at the Duke University Library and was treasurer of the SILS Alumni Association until her move. Joan says that the relationships she formed with faculty, her classmates at SILS and colleagues at CALA are what she values most.

For those interested in moving overseas, Joan assures that it’s not as scary as it seems and that her move has been "totally worth it." "I suspect that whether I stay here for two years or many years, this is the experience of a lifetime," she said.

Joan invites alumni and students who are interested in international librarianship to be in contact.