Interviewed a Librarian

I've started my Master in Library Science, and today interviewed a librarian - a first. She was fabulous and fantastic. I'm not going to give away too many details about the library or the librarian, for privacy sake, but let's just say, this was a great interview and reaffirmed my choice that Library school and entering the profession as a Librarian, will be faced with challenges, but ones that are worth it.

It was supposed to be 30-45 minutes long, and ended up lasting about 3 hours. Thank goodness I had food before the interview. I got a full on tour of the library, very modern, evolving and embracing new ways to help the public. She was there from the beginnings of that library, and was obviously very enthusiastic and had a lot of knowledge about what made it work. Best thing is it was a smaller system so they focused on displaying materials easily and making it very user friendly. They also integrated a lot of technology, a lot of great audio books, foreign language books and a great selection of donated books as well.

I asked my questions based on my class, and chatted with her more about the library but also trying to get a better sense of the behind the scenes stuff and issues with the library. Great thing is, her enthusiasm was contagious and I could see how much she loved her job, despite the difficulties. She also loved explaining things and showing me all the capabilities and possibilities and improvements they made in the library.

The thing I was most impressed about, was her own personal attitude towards libraries and technology. She found technology "cool" and a lot of the features and possibilities were appealing to her. She was not negative about the future of libraries, or overly frustrated with budget cuts or bureaucracy. Instead she was like me, you could see her mind ticking trying to solve puzzles of how to make things work. Also she had a inclusive, evolving, integrative and progressive attitude to technology and the library system. It was fabulous and a joy to talk with her. She's the type of lady you could just chatter away with easily for an hour.

She was incredibly generous with her time, energy and information, so I'm looking for a great Thank You that I can give. Probably a fabulously worded letter, and perhaps, oh I don't know, I want to give a little something extra. She was pretty high up in the Librarian ladder in the Library system, and she took 3 hours to explain things to me. It was possible she preferred talking to me over doing her work, but she was very very busy, had tons of papers on her desk and emails unread and lots of projects she could have worked on. Instead she decided to help out a student, which is a very generous use of her time. Anyway - just trying to come up with a way to say - Thank you I really appreciated that and you are an awesome awesome lady, without coming off like a kiss-ass.

So, next time you're feeling bored, please don't turn on the TV or go to the internet, you do that every day. Seriously, check out your local library. They have some fabulous resources and every librarian I've ever talked to has been super nice and eager to help. Of course there are exceptions, so try to pick the person you ask, but also, don't be afraid to ask more than one person. Eventually you'll find someone who is eager to help and show you all the cool resources the Library has. If you're shy, just say you've recently moved into the area and would like to know what services and collection the library has to offer. You might just find someone who is passionate about what the library offers. Also you may get an inside scoop into all the neat features that you wouldn't find on your own. Believe me, there are some really cool resources on there. Below is a list of JUST SOME of the new resources I found at some libraries and I'm sure there are many other resources and many other libraries with various services. So CHECK IT OUT!

- Online book club: Makes so much more sense with the digital age and time constraints.
- Ebooks: Download audio books onto your ipod or mp3 player and regular books onto your e-reader or iPad.
- Updated search formats: like a word cloud search or more Google like format.
- Instant Play Books: check out a small phone sized device and plug in your headphones - listen to a book. No CD player required.
- Real time online expert help: for students who need homework help or job hunters who need resume reviews. All free if you're a patron of the library - instant online access to experts and resources. Chat, email and live online feedback. Library pays, you get quality service for free.
- Special locked up collections of valuable or restricted access books - very interesting and controversial at times. Just ask about it, it's curious to see what's inside. Also it may just house some valuable cool books that need special care.
- Reserve and check out Puppets: For kids and learning! How frickin cool is that. Not all libraries have this of course, but it's so cute.
- Self check-out stands
- Cheap used books: ranging from 50 cents to $2 - what a deal!

And much much more, but I couldn't tell you all of it - you have to ask your Librarian :) Try to go on a week night too - they get really busy on weekends. Publicly - support your library, donate, volunteer and convince all public figures how important this institution is!