A few weeks ago a guy in the ticket line at the Spy Museum related his librarian saga to me when he found out what I did for a living. He was absolutely amazed that he didn’t meet the minimum qualifications for any of the librarian positions he had applied for because he didn’t have a MLS.
“How hard can it be?” he asked me. Right then and there, I knew exactly where he was going and decided to head off the inevitable. “You know” I said, “the people checking out the materials for you at your local library probably aren’t librarians.” “Really?” he asked. And then I launched into my usual spiel about what librarians do. Then, of course, his eyes started to glaze over….
I started to wonder just how often I’d have to repeat this conversation with people who still think that librarians only check out books.
But the other day, my son gave me reason to hope.
He’d been researching information on the Internet about which types of injuries soccer players get most often; and being a diligent librarian, I tried to give him some tips on evaluating information on the Internet. I don’t know what possessed me to ask him what I did. I think it was because he was starting to get the “here she goes again” look on his face. So I just blurted out: “Do you know what I do—what librarians do?” “Sure.” he said. “Librarians categorize books so that people can find them.”
Wow! I just knew that I was going to have to repeat my “Librarians don’t just check out books” speech. Now, I know to some librarians, his answer was woefully incomplete. But I was ecstatic that I didn’t have to give my usual spiel and subject myself to his 1000-yard stare.
All is not lost!
I made homemade cinnamon rolls for him the next morning.
WONDERLUST 