Underestimated Librarians

I don’t think people in other professions have to explain themselves or their jobs as much as librarians do. First of all I find myself explaining to commoners that I have been to library school and received a special degree to be where I am and that is why I am called a “Librarian.”

When I tell people I am a librarian, they imagine me behind a desk signing out books. Helloooo… how long has it been since you went to a library? Do you see the other things that go on around there – like the library website which usually contains a wealth of information and is kept up-to-date, computer classes that are taught for free, displays that help you find THE book about something you might love but have never heard of before, librarians answering questions that could be from anyone about anything, and so much more? Well, librarians play a big role in all that. It takes time to collect information, to arrange for classes, to teach classes, to select and buy books, to order microfilms, videos, to put up displays, answer questions, evaluate and buy databases, constantly fill in the gaps in the huge collection and all the other things that come our way. We also take care of business side of things – like bargaining for the best databases from vendors. Then there is supervison of staff, administrative duties such as work schedules, payroll, etc and most importantly Outreach and Partnerships with organizations in the community. Now that is not easy work is it?

An acquaintance was chatting with me one evening. She asked me what exactly I do as a librarian & I explained all of the above to her. She was quite shocked and actually said to me: “I thought you just sign out books.” She seemed genuinely shocked that other things happen at a library and she is a well qualified computer professional!!