On Libraries

In 1988 I received a MLS (Master's in Library Science - surprise! librarians have master's degrees) and shortly thereafter got a job as a young adult/reference librarian with the Cuyahoga Co. Public Library system in Ohio. I worked at the Garfield and Bedford branches until we moved to Tennessee. Library jobs weren't as plentiful here (at the time you had to live in Davidson Co. to work in the Nashville system), and I was unemployed for 1-1/2 years. During that time I sold a car as an auto saleperson (another post). Very, very fortunately, I then got a job as a reference librarian at the Brentwood Public Library in Brentwood, TN. I was the only reference librarian there in 1993, and today am the head of the Adult Dept., with 9 full and part-time employees. We have grown from 14 to 44 thousand square feet and are planning another expansion. After my surgery in June 2007, which turned into the surgery from hell and ain't over yet, I may be retiring with my hubby this July, but I haven't decided yet as I love, love, love my job. In the past 15 years, my 15 years, libraries have not only changed in square footage. As in the rest of the world - but even more so for us - technology has wrapped its powerful, but also bent, fingers around us. I say bent because when the City's internet connection is down, the patrons get testy. That, along with all the other problems that those chips cause. Anyway, libraries, including us, had recently moved to online card catalogs, though this was not also so in many small or less well-funded libraries. I might add here that Williamson Co. is the 7th wealthiest county in the U.S. Whoa! Yes. But what really grabbed us all by the neck was the advent of the Internet. I gave it a capital "i" here on purpose. Suddenly there was a competitor for who had the information; and, quite frankly, we don't win that game. We don't have all the lyrics to all the songs; every image of, well, anything I've ever typed into Google's image search engine, a short or extensive bio of almost any famous person, a recipe for lobster bisque, your's for the mere typing - and the list goes on and on as you well know. What we do have, as you also know if you are a library user, is flesh-and-blood human hands that can help people with technology, that hand readers books that we think they may enjoy, that cradle picture books as we read to toddlers during story hours. We still organize our information by a system that, though not flawless, helps librarians find answers quickly for our patrons (and where else can you be called a patron?). We subscribe to databases that are expensive enough that you as an individual couldn't afford any of them on your own. We offer countless programs for young and old - from Easter egg hunts and story hours and summer reading programs for the young to bridge lessons, computer lessons, and how to manage your money lessons for adults. Click on our website to get an idea of the programs we are offering this month. (www.brentwood-tn.org/library) I 'm usually very impressed at the energy that goes into this icing-on-the-cake at our library. We also have the cheapest and best meeting rooms in town. I have been fortunate to work with 2 other ab-fab, full-time librarians in the adult section for the past 13 and 9 years. And while many patrons view us simply as reference librarians who look like we sit around reading magazines a lot, it's because 75% of our time is spent on collection development. Think about it. The "good book" fairy doesn't just deliver books, periodicals, DVD's, CD's, etc. to libraries. Instead, we read through a gazillion reviews to try and separate the wheat from the chaff. I buy all the adult nonfiction for the library. That means that after 15 years, I have seen every sort of cookbook, money book, he's-a-dope, no, she's-a-dope book, expert or slightly suspect self-help book, etc. etc. and so forth, imaginable. The only thing that still surprises me is dieting books; somehow they still seem to come up with something that makes me say "now I've seen it all" until the next time, when I discover that I really hadn't seen it all. However, I enjoy doing the nonfiction because I do learn snippets of information in reading my reviews, as you can imagine, on a myriad of topics. In fact, in fiction I would have said from A to Z, but on my side of the aisle, it's from 001 to 999. What I also love about being a reference librarian is working with and goofing off with the patrons. After all we are a helping profession. Sort of like nurses without the icky stuff and (slightly) better looking shoes. And since libraries are a community meeting place, we are the gals with the smiles and the smart remarks. I mean repartee, of course. We have some patrons who love to stop by and say hi or ask what's new to read or just talk politics. Of course, there are the complainers, the whiners, the hangers-oner's, the know-it-all's, and that flasher (that's another post too). But, hey, that's what makes the world go 'round. It's not all good! And then there's reading - for my husband (who actually reads more and faster than I do) and myself. He will read almost anything I bring home (although by now I know what he likes), and I imagine this is one of the biggest perks of the marriage. Anyway, we both read some of the popular authors and then other things that I glanced at that got a good review and I wrote down on my "to read" list. It's quite a long list, and I naturally can't remember why anything is on it anymore. Maybe in another post I will list some of the books we recommend. In the meantime, I have a list of favorite book sites a little farther down in the blog.