Hope for the Future. Or, How to Give a Librarian the Warm Fuzzies.

Just when I am finally broken enough to blog something like this, another student provides a refreshing moment of wisdom and interest in being the best researcher they can possibly be. (Much like "being all you can be" for the army. Except an army of one isn't very intimidating, whereas a researcher or scholar of one can inculcate thousands before they're stopped.)


I got my little librarian hands on two upper-level English classes yesterday, and we worked with thesauri and subject guides in various databases, learned all about how our crappy link resolver (soon to be replaced with Gold Rush - yay!) works, and delved into some of our more advanced, subject-specific databases. We discussed inter-library loan, and the coolness that abounds in librarians, who I framed as professional nerds, ready, willing and able to come to desperate students' aid in times of crisis.


I may have also mentioned in passing that we occasionally wear capes, attract the hottest men, and garner huge salaries. I think the students knew I was kidding. Maybe.


Anyway, both classes were kind enough to remain engaged and actually thought they learned something new and *gasp* useful during the sessions. One young lady, who sat in the front row, and was very sprightly and active in the discussion all class long, came up to me after class to let me know that though she was studying to be a teacher, she *really* wanted to be a librarian. She asked me if I liked my job (it was a great day, I gushed a bit about how excellent academic librarianship is), and asked if she could come back over the course of the semester to ask me questions.


Laugh, if you will, but this may be the closest I get to celebrity as a librarian. I basked in it, and it gave me the warm fuzzies for the rest of the day.


A very large thank you to all of my students who do, indeed, pay the hell attention, who don't laugh too hard when I tell them that the reference desk closes at 10pm because I have a date, and who make even the slightest effort to appear interested in library instruction. I love you all. In a non-creepy, non-stalkery, non-rule-breaking, non-sexual harassment sort of way, of course.

Comments

griffey said…
I missed the day they handed out capes, and I always regretted that.

I needs me a cape.
1:48 PM
warmaiden said…
I would have no qualms about wearing a cape to work if i can find a nice warm one...would purple velvet be too much, do you think?
1:55 PM
Anonymous said…
And they love you back! In a non-stalkery way of course. ;-)
11:53 PM
the.effing.librarian said…
Hi, Colleen. I see more people use twitter than I first thought, so I might log in more often.
10:59 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Impressions & Customer Service Failures

We all know how important first impressions are, right? It's sort of like how Anne McCaffrey's dragons "impress" on new dragonriders-to-be. (Yes, I'm feeling nostalgic with a new herd of freshmen on campus.) First impressions are essential, particularly when you're talking about freshmen, wet behind the ears, completely disoriented and overwhelmed by being at a state school for their first college experience, and stressed out by trying to find their classrooms and last-minute add/drops on their schedule. I usually don't think of them this way, because I'm not a fundraiser or in the alumni office, but the University at large should also think about the fact that these are the kids we hope will call this university 'home' even after they leave. (That could be my small liberal arts college experience shining through, though.) If nothing else, due to UTC's abysmal retention rates, you'd think the entire university would be bending over back...
Read more

Email Lists: A Dose of Common Sense

Let's chat, folks. I know there are tons of things in LibraryLand we could discuss, but for a moment, let's talk about e-mail lists. I know quite a few people (like Griffey ) who think that email lists are the (outdated) devil. I happen to like receiving things in email because I haven't yet figured how to acceptably integrate feedreaders into my life, and I prefer conversations via e-mail than via the comment section of blogs, whcih I never remember to go back and check after I've left some inflammatory comment. Anyway, we can discuss fuddy-duddies like myself and our love of the e-mail later. We need to chat about lists, though. If you've been on the NEWLIB list lately, you likely know why. Lists are good things, if only to keep yourself updated on conversations/arguments/discussion/resource lists that generally make the rounds when people query via email. Lists are very often archived somewhere for future reference, which is super-useful is you know that someo...
Read more

On the Great Myth of the Librarian Grays

Lately, there's been a lot of discussion (and bitching) about the promised graying/retirement within the library profession that was supposed to open up endless job opportunities for new librarians. The LITA-L email list, a recent American Libraries article , and a post by Peter Brantley calling for an overthrow by the young'uns have all been pretty popular topics of late. January 15, 2004, Rachel Singer Gordon published a piece in Library Journal titled "NextGen: Get Over the "Graying" Profession Hype" . I say again: this was 2004. It would appear no one took the advice, given that today - despite very obvious evidence to the contrary, American Libraries just printed an ill-advised article on recruiting undergrads to the profession , citing the graying of the profession as a reason for folks to sign up for library work. Jessamyn West, in her recent post "show us the numbers re: new librarian jobs" , calls for more than the ever-present empty a...
Read more