Should I Go To Library School?
I feel compelled to add this to yesterday's review of Free for All.
If you get to this post by googling "should i go to library school," the answer is: if you want to work in a public library, read this book. It will give you a really accurate portrayal of what life in a public library is like.
There need to be more people going into the library profession who thrive on this kind of stuff - it's not good enough to just tolerate it. Tolerance just leads to eventual burnout and digestive problems.
Here is a short list of who should not be a public librarian.
People with short fuses should not be public librarians.
People who can put on a happy face while dealing with angry taxpayers while suppressing the kind of rage that will ultimately lead them to go postal (or at least, beat their dogs) should not be public librarians.
If you are prone to despair, you should not be a public librarian. If you ever, ever tend to think that society's made up of a bunch of idiots, you should not be a public librarian.
If you want to work in a public library, you need to like yelling at unruly kids, you need to think encounters with weirdos will make charming stories someday, you need to be thoroughly enamored of the human condition, warts and all. I think it might help to be a Buddhist monk.
This public service announcement was brought to you by: someone who cares about the future of public libraries in America.
If you get to this post by googling "should i go to library school," the answer is: if you want to work in a public library, read this book. It will give you a really accurate portrayal of what life in a public library is like.
There need to be more people going into the library profession who thrive on this kind of stuff - it's not good enough to just tolerate it. Tolerance just leads to eventual burnout and digestive problems.
Here is a short list of who should not be a public librarian.
People with short fuses should not be public librarians.
People who can put on a happy face while dealing with angry taxpayers while suppressing the kind of rage that will ultimately lead them to go postal (or at least, beat their dogs) should not be public librarians.
If you are prone to despair, you should not be a public librarian. If you ever, ever tend to think that society's made up of a bunch of idiots, you should not be a public librarian.
If you want to work in a public library, you need to like yelling at unruly kids, you need to think encounters with weirdos will make charming stories someday, you need to be thoroughly enamored of the human condition, warts and all. I think it might help to be a Buddhist monk.
This public service announcement was brought to you by: someone who cares about the future of public libraries in America.
posted by Christine at 10:49 AM
1 Comments:
Yesterday, a 10 year old boy wanted me to come outside and fight him...if you like stuff like that then consider a career in libraryship!
In regards to the book, I still haven't read it, but I did find the USA Today comment the author made (which I referenced to in my other comment): regarding librarians, the author says they are, "not to be overly ambitious people. Not extroverts. It's a way for some people to hide. But that doesn't mean they're not good people."
So read it, but considering that comment don't take him too seriously...comments like that only add to the misconception people have about libraries and librarians.
I have to shamelessly add that my own memoir "Quiet, Please" (Da Capo Books, April 2008. ISBN: 0786720913. Pre-order now!) spends an entire chapter talking about what library school is, where it came from (believe it or not it was started by Dewey as an all girls program as a way to train women to be male librarians tool...Dewey was a wise man, but a bit of a sexist), and why, for better or worse, it really is important.
Also, for a humorist look at library school check out my dispatch on McSweeney's: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/librarian/6gradschooladvice.html
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