Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things you might not know about librarians

Last week when I suggested this as a possible topic, I got an overwhelming demand (3 or 4 at least) to include it. So here goes my best shot.

1) The largest library in the world is the Library of Congress of the United States. The Librarian of Congress has never been a librarian. The current and 13th Librarian of Congress is James H. Billington, appointed in 1987.

2) Most of the people you see working in libraries are not librarians. Librarians are probably in the back room dealing with personnel issues, budget cuts, unhappy board members, preparing a speech for a consortium, or working through a license for a new database.

3) Librarians as children loved going to school--and they keep on going. A Master’s in Library Science is the entry level degree in the United States, but many librarians I know have double masters or PhDs. To my knowledge, there is no Bachelor’s degree in library science and hasn’t been for about 50 years. It may be possible to have an education degree with a minor in library science, however.

4) We are often wannabees--both staff and librarians. It’s not unusual to find a librarian or library staffer who is also a performing musician, a published novelist or poet, costume designer, archaeologist or historian. I met many former teachers, a few former lawyers, a former nurse, and one former veterinarian who became librarians. I've only met one librarian who started college with a goal to become a librarian.

5) A survey done during the 2004 election of political party preference came up 223:1, Democrat to Republican for librarians--the biggest lack of diversity of any profession. Not even Hollywood is that liberal. But we have a librarian in the White House.

6) Librarians are entrenched in their own value system. These values do change over the years. Thirty some years ago when my children were little I asked the children’s librarian to stop offering “Little Black Sambo” during story hour, and got a response something like, “It’s a classic, a delightful story and the children love it.”

7) Librarians have a strong missionary spirit--that everyone needs a good library is an article of faith (this is doubtful since many people find salvation in bookstores or worship Google). However, librarians aren’t particularly good at evangelizing (marketing to) the unbeliever--unless the poor soul accidentally get trapped inside the library and sees some really terrific bulletin boards or displays.

8) Librarians are slavish about following "standards" approved by the profession even if they don't apply to a specific situation (think NCLB on steroids). But only when it suits them.

9) Although there are exceptions, librarians are thin-skinned, tenacious, opinionated and determined with a very low tolerance for debate. And defensive. So don't let on you know this. I certainly include myself in this description, so I’m not telling tales out of school. When librarians get together for lunch, we really do talk about what we just read and push our favorites off on each other. Librarians also are gentle, caring, kind hearted, very service oriented, and most have a terrific sense of humor that leans toward irony and wit. Although there are exceptions.

10) Library school graduates (now called information specialists) of the last 10-15 years, the techno-geeks, are everything the old style librarians of my era were, but with computer street creds and coding skills. Some of them are just awesome in their skills, but might have difficulty in a for-profit, entrepreneurial environment.

11) On an introvert/extrovert scale of 1-10, you'd be hard pressed to find a librarian who is a 6 or 7 (that would be me). I’ve never seen a survey to prove this, but I think our birth rate is rather low, therefore new librarians have to be lured from non-librarian families unlike doctors and lawyers who seem to create their own successors.

12) There is a career slot for all tastes--public libraries, academic libraries, private libraries, school libraries, government libraries, and special libraries; some jobs will put you in a cubicle, others will have you facing a demanding public all day. Willingness to relocate is an essential attitude in today's market.

13) You will make a librarian’s day if you ask a question, especially if it is one not heard five times this week, or “where is the wi-fi hot spot.” So think up something challenging, but tell her she must find it in a book. If you get a blank stare, you haven't found a librarian.

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