I've recently been doing quite a bit of reflecting and writing for the paper that I'm going to be delivering at
The Somerset International Conference for Librarians and Teachers. I'll be describing my experiences as a young librarian, entering the industry, and the barriers that I needed to overcome, in terms of my expectations of the industry as I started as a professional, as well as my expectations of the communities and the services that I thought I should have been providing to them. I'll also be talking about my "Librarian Idol" journey, and how, in many ways, this affected the way that I found new ways of approaching my role as a librarian, but more importantly, understanding the public perception of the librarian - the so-called stereotype - and how we can use this branding to the best of our advantage.
But ultimately, I'll be talking about how I made the industry "work" for me, in terms of my own professional needs, whilst still making it "work" for the community.
I was pondering this, when Lee over at
Tame The Web, made
this post, posing the question:
What should our job be as librarians? Certainly, I had a very specific idea of what my job should be, as I left library school and entered the industry. After all, I had my piece of paper. I was
qualified - I had the necessary information skills, and the motivation to guide library patrons to become information literate lifelong-learners. NOW was the time to go out there, and bridge the digital divide by inspiring public library patrons to become participative citizens in our digital community.
As you can imagine, the real world of libraries was a rude awakening. I went through stages of profound disillusionment, thinking that humanity was doomed, that people just didn't care anymore about bettering themselves through learning, that kids these days didn't read anymore, and so on. Reference desk work was rarely little more than basic customer service and direction-giviing. Every time I tried to push programs in a certain technological direction, I felt so much resistance to change, that it just didn't feel worthwhile. And, worse still, I felt this resistance not only from my patrons, but also from colleagues.
Put simply, librarianship was just not working for me. It wasn't providing me with the kind of job satisfaction that I was after.
At the time, I was working on a cabaret show, entitled "Librarian Idol". A lot of my frustration was poured into this show - it was sort of a coping mechanism. Comedy and music are wonderful things - they're an excellent means of trying to make sense of the frustrations in life that are just incomprehensible. Comedy finds form for the ridiculous, and music encapsulates the sublime.
Interestingly, my role as a solo entertainer, in many ways, echoed my role as a librarian. The relationship between the performer and the audience isn't that dissimilar to the relationship between the librarian and the audience. One thing I have learnt as a performer is that, whilst confidence is essential, arrogance will alienate an audience. Yes, they're lucky to have me to visit and perform for them, but I'm also lucky to have an audience to indulge me and pay for me to put on a show. It's a symbiotic relationship, and the essential element to being a performer (at least, in my experience) is
pleasure. Finding the pleasure, and milking it. It makes the experience pleasurable for everybody. And, equally as importantly, a sense of grace and decorum. And yes, I believe it's possible to still be subversive, and maintain this.
In the same way, applying these lessons to my role as a librarianship has, more often than not, helped make my role "work" for me. The main difficulty in getting people to become lifelong learners, or to promote information literacy, is that perception that all of this takes (a)work, (b)time, and (c)they have better (ie. more pleasant) things to with their time and energy. However, this perception could change if we can somehow associate libraries with being a pleasurable experience, and
find the pleasure in learning. Just as we hear, again and again, Helene Blowers utter the word
PLAY! when it comes to professional development, and overcoming the PD barriers that we face when training staff, we too, as libraries, can draw the crowds to the library by highlighting on the pleasure that all elements of the library brings, whether it be the pleasures of reading, learning, sharing stories, debating, singing, and a host of other ways of interacting with the communitiy.
And at the centre of this is the librarian.
I love my profession now, I really do, and what makes it "work" for me is the range of pleasure that I can bring to patrons, no matter how perceivably simple or complex it might be. Certainly, there are often times where I feel understimulated, in terms of technological innovation - after all, that's one thing that brings me personal pleasure - but it's not all about me. As long as I can make a difference in somebody else's day, and make life a bit more pleasant for them in the library, then it's a step forward towards building a better community.
So, how do you make librarianship "work" for you?
