Librarian pulls her weight as strongwoman

By day, Diann Smothers works as "The Mighty Librarian," a research and instruction business librarian who not only works at the reference desk in Snell Library, but along with 13 other research and instruction librarians, teaches 10,000 students a year.

By night, she assumes the identity of "The Mighty Neutron," a name she calls herself when training for strongwoman competitions. She can press 100 pounds over her head, dead lift 245 pounds and pull a dump truck weighing 25,000 to 30,000 pounds.

"For a librarian, she's way more motivated [to train] than you'd expect," said Dave Memont, Smothers' weight training coach at Total Performance Sports in Everett.

Smothers, who resides in Somerville, became interested in strongwoman competitions just over a year ago after seeing one on TV. After that, she said she knew she could do it herself.

Now, after just over a year of training, Smothers, who stands at a meek five-feet-four-inches, but weighs in at 143 pounds, recently competed in her first national competition where she placed fifth in the women's lightweight division.

"It went pretty good and I met some really, really great people," she said. "When you go to an event at that level, it's more like an 'Oh, you're really serious about this like I am.'"

The road to her first national contest was not an easy one. Besides working full-time at Snell Library, Smothers works part-time at a gym near home and trains one to two hours almost every day. But before beginning her training, she needed to find a coach, and, unfortunately, there were none at her nearby gym.

"She never drives," Memont said. "But she got a car just to come out here [to Everett]."

Smothers trains with weights four days a week using the west side method of training for power lifting. This method works the upper and lower body as well as helping with dynamic exercise, using bursts of power or speed.

When it comes to competitions, the events have names as menacing as the massive amounts of weight involved. Contests called Conan's Wheel, Viking Press and Atlas Stones pepper Smothers' résumé.

But as she proudly shows photos of herself flipping over monstrous truck tires, hoisting giant metal beams and pulling a dump truck on her computer screen, she pauses to look over the help desk and assist a student with their research.

"You can only push your body so hard for so long," she said. "That's why I need to go for [strongwoman contests] while I still am able to."

It's a hobby for Smothers, who calls her work as a librarian her first love.

She began to cultivate her appreciation for the work of librarians while studying at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. She said she was amazed at the librarians' ability to locate information for students, no matter how abstract their query.

She said she thought to herself, "I want to know how to find the answer to everything."

Smothers began working at Northeastern in the fall of 2001, just after research and instruction librarian and advancement program manager Maria Carpenter was hired at Snell.

"She's an excellent business librarian," said Carpenter. "But she has the whole other life as well."

Carpenter, who also hosts a public access television show titled "The Bonafide Librarian," showcased Smothers training on her show by joining her for a workout on the Charles River.

"She was the buff commando," Carpenter said. "I was surprised by just how much strength it took."

However, Carpenter said she wasn't surprised about Smothers' double life.

"I think [Smothers] is a good example of a whole lot of creative individuals with [interests] outside of their core positions," Carpenter said. "I think that's great. She's an inspiration."