Quote:
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Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket
"Do you have that book by... you know. It has pages in it. I think it has a cover. Hard, no soft. You know, the book. The book? I think it's made out of paper. It was written by somebody. You know, Dr. Something Something. No? The cover has a picture on it. It's a book, though. I'm sure of that."
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I do! It's over there in that section with the numbers on it next to the other books that have words on the side.
My public library is the only one in town. So, we offer up our services to over 55,000 folks. It's a lot for a little library. I find myself doing more research-based projects in my branch than the other cities that have 3-4 branches in their town.
I fell into my librarianship. I started volunteering when I was 12 and never stopped working at the library. I found myself actually seeing how the library operated, what the staff did there, and how much it took to make the library run... and I loved it. I love collection development, I love teaching people how to use the library... I love my job.
My ex-husband used to tell me "I don't understand why you're tired. All you do is sit on your a$$ all day, look at a computer screen, point your finger at people to 'shush' them, and read all day." Not only when we were married.... but even now after we're divorced. He likes to tell me (and when we were in court, the judge) that it wasn't a "real" job. I always challenged him to come into the library to see WHAT I did and HOW I did it. I told him that my job was not as easy as it looked and that answering questions all day was not all I did. And... I wish I could read all day. It would make the annoying questions a lot more palatable if I lazily pulled my head up from my book and said "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear your question." and then pushed my head right back into it again.
It is more than books, it's more than sitting on ones a$$, it's a business of books and media. One has to have the savvy to balance good customer service, intelligent searches, and making sure your branch has quality resources to offer the patrons.