Library Goat

I had a dream about the library last night--the library where I work decided to sell goats.

Only . . . none of the goats were selling.

It was winter, and one day the library got snowed in. I walked to work only to find out that somehow, the snowbound state had apparently made goats more popular.

We sold one goat . . . for 56 million dollars.

Librarians and Fashion: Mortal Enemies?

Staff smock it to Ryan

Recently I saw this article linked through one of the library email subscriptions I get at work.

It made me look around at the library a bit and notice that most librarians in my range of vision were definitely fashion flops. Having always hated fashion myself, I was comforted by this and secure once more in the knowledge that I've chosen the right profession.

However, I have to acknowledge at the same time that--let's face it--fashion gets people places. We have to dress up a little if we're to put a good face on our organization. No, we don't want to look like we're going to a formal dance and alienate our patrons that way, but we don't want to look like a sofa either.

Apparently Paula Ryan did not mean to stereotype librarians, and meant only to offer her services as a fashion consultant for work clothing--help give people a little more confidence.

Although I feel good and have more confidence when I know I look good, what I will say for myself and other librarians is that there are other things we value more than this. Our main confidence does not lie in the fact that we look great in that shirt, but in our provision of something valuable to society. And while I would rather look like a well-dressed knockout than a shapeless man-thing, settling for something in between is sometimes necessary if I also want to get enough sleep and have breakfast in the morning.

Also: some (coughmostcough) people don't have the money to buy lots of nice clothes that fit just right.

So, Paula Ryan--if you have any fashion tips that take less than five minutes and cost less than ten dollars, lay 'em on me. Otherwise, I will quietly don my decent slacks and my ill-fitting blouse, braid my wet hair, have a good breakfast and head off to work, thank you kindly.

Odd Book Out

From time to time at the library, one comes across a title that deserves the status of . . . "huh?!"

Once a week or so I'd like to share some such title with all of you. So for this week, behold! I present to you:

Step-By-Step Brain Tanning The Sioux Way by Larry Belitz

Note: Since stumbling across this title, I've discovered that brain tanning is: "a natural method of tanning hides. After the hide has been fleshed, scraped, and abraded, a slightly cooked mixture of brains and fat from animals is rubbed into the hide."

And now you know everything you ever wanted about brain tanning.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow...

While working full time in library tech. services this semester, I am taking two classes online through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee--Introduction to Library and Information Science, and Library Materials For Young Adults.

To keep sane, I know already that I must practice discipline in how I balance work, school, my relationships, and my own health while working toward this degree. Still, it will be an amazing ride. If I doubted my desire to become a librarian, all such thoughts are dissolved like salt in hot water, especially after reading this article for my YA materials class:

Lessons and Lives: Why Young Adult Literature Matters

Parts of this article had me in tears. This sums up what I lived for as a child and a young adult . . . not just books, but stories. Stories that tackle hard truth, stories that manage to at once lift you into joy-filled castles in the sky and drop you onto concrete from the tops of skyscrapers. Stories of love and hope and pain, skillfully sewn with strands of creativity, pounded together with the nails of imagination.

What better vocation than to infuse the lives of future generations with such narratives? To my mind and heart, there is none, other than perhaps to write those stories myself.

What is a Librarian?

To some, this question may have an obvious answer. Most people have an image of what a librarian is already firmly implanted in their heads.

It could be that old woman, her gray hair pulled back into a severe bun. Yes, you can see her. She has horn-rimmed glasses and wears a sweater with a long skirt, under which shuffle two loafer-clad feet. She loathes fun; one bony finger lifted to her lips will "shh!" anyone into submission.

It could be that man in your high school library. He won't let you print anything. Nondescript and boring, he barely talks. If he's there to help, then why are you afraid to ask him? If he hates students, then why is he working at a school?

Maybe it could even be that shy, bookish woman whom every man hopes is secretly dying to dance on a table wearing nothing but a smile. (Just for reference: I did know a belly dancing librarian once; she wore a lot more than a smile).

Most people who imagine these kinds of characters when they hear "librarian" would be shocked to find that librarians and other information professionals come from all backgrounds, all countries, all faiths, all ages, and in all shapes and sizes. In fact, the only things I've found most of the ones I've met to hold in common are warmth, intelligence, and a certain eccentricity that goes along with a love for learning.

In fact, that brings to mind one thing that librarians are: they are people who love to learn, and who love to help others learn. Contrary to popular belief, however, librarians do not know everything. They merely have access to (almost) everything.

During my short time working in various libraries, I have come to view a librarian as a conduit. A librarian does not contain the knowledge of the world (in this day and age, that is becoming increasingly impossible), but rather serves as a key to unlock the gateway to this knowledge, a dam to hold back and manage the information deluge, if you will. And with the amount of information available today, one must have a steady heart, not to mention a strong back to manage it.

A librarian is someone who works hard at tasks that may seem boring to the general populace. While the work can be repetitive, I have never been able to put it on the level of "boring." Librarians get to handle, or at least work around, materials that range in subject from mythology to gun control, from Omega-3 fatty acids to the dynamics of a spinning frisbee and everything in between. It's hard to be bored in a library unless one really tries.

Most of all, a librarian is of necessity a servant. Whether it is to the public, to academia, to a company, a church, a law firm or a hospital, librarians are there to organize someone else's information and then help others find it. Librarians are there to make sure that all information resources one could possibly need are at one's fingertips.

Librarians are a motley crew who don't quite belong anywhere else but a library. They are people of few or many words, male or female, young or old. They are black, white, brown, pinkish, and sometimes green (but we are not sure of this). They are passionate, with souls of ink and fire. Some of them don't wear glasses.

But I do. And I'm not really a librarian yet, but it will happen. Just a few years, and I too will be able to enjoy the title and join the ranks of some of the nicest, funniest, most interesting people I have ever known.

Here's to the journey.