Nancy Adams grew up reading Nancy Drew novels and now regularly solves the Founders Memorial Library’s biggest mysteries – which books to buy and how to pay for them.

Adams, a library technical assistant, has worked in the Founders Memorial Library’s acquisitions department since 1989.

Adams said she entered her profession by chance after attending NIU as a biology major.

“Like a typical liberal arts and sciences major, after college I looked around and thought, now what?” Adams said. “I knew I didn’t want to teach biology, and I didn’t want to do the research aspect of it, either.”

Adams said she soon realized a library job would satisfy her varied range of interests. She had the added advantage of experience, having worked at her high school’s library.

The acquisitions department receives requests from librarians regarding which books they want purchased. Adams is among those who determine which books are purchased and which remain in a warehouse next to hundreds of copies of Tom Arnold’s autobiography.

Even as a child, Adams enjoyed reading. Mysteries are her favorite.

“It all started with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys when I was young,” she said. “The problem solving that is involved in them make them interesting to me.”

Adams said the department purchases about 7,000 books a year. For three consecutive years, the library has seen zero budget increases, which has led Adams to inquire about a corporate credit card.

“Other universities use corporate credit cards for purchasing books, which sometimes helps because certain books can be purchased cheaper with a corporate credit card,” she said.

Adams said most of NIU’s books are purchased from companies whose specialty is to supply materials to libraries.

“Purchasing from eBay or any other such service that uses credit cards is not possible,” she said. “We need to order materials using invoices.”