 |
| " To be, or not to be:that is the question:" William Shakespeare |
I think many Librarians will agree with me when I say that Librarianship is possibly one of the most misunderstood professions out there. Many of my co-workers outside of the library have often asked me questions like: "what do you do all day?" "Why do you want to be a librarian?" or my favourite - " Do we even need librarians anymore?" I suppose alot of people would ponder the need for librarians with resources such as the much revered search engine knocking around the internet.
In recent years the image of the librarian has taken a turn from the ever prevelant image of a stern and severe looking lady with a very neat top knot stamping books and instructing people to be quiet, such as our friend above in the recent M.U (Monsters University) Movie. I think every librarian who has ever watched that movie quietly giggled at the University Challenge scene. I know I did! But we have also had some awe inspiring and adventurous librarians in our corner too with the likes of Mr. Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Evelyn O' Connell from The Mummy franchise. I will openly admit now that part of my wanting to be a librarian when I was younger is most definitely attributed to these two inspiring characters and the fact that becoming a librarian was probably more attainable than becoming Batman (sorry 3 year old me). So I will tell you now what I tell to my co-workers in the small hours of the morning when we are polishing glasses to a sparkling perfection: That the walls of the library house more than just volumes and volumes of books.That in fact the library is home to some very talented and very interesting people. Librarians come in all shapes and sizes just like books do and like books librarians specialize in many different topics such as reference librarians, subject librarians, managers, cataloguers, system specialists, school librarians, health librarians, law librarians the list is endless. The roles of each of my Librarian colleagues are very different but we all share the same goal : the point of our profession as librarians is to help people find information. Whether we organize it, maintain the access systems, personally retrieve it, order it or teach people how to access it- librarians are the caretakers and providers of information ( much like google but more accurate and personal I like to think).I love learning and information and I love helping people. As a librarian I can help people find the information they need and even help them access or sort through the mounds of digital information available to them to find the high quality, credible sources they need. My degree in Classics and History definitely taught me a thing or two about that! I also love the fact that librarians are constantly learning and evolving. It really doesn't take just a 'love of books' to want to become a librarian rather a love of knowledge is where it all starts. I personally love the goal of the librarian profession and as a child who my parents will tell you constantly asked "WHY?" I think the library is the perfect fit for me.
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for more adventures of the would be librarian to be.
Emma
