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February 23, 2000
Why I want to be a librarian
I've got meetings for most of the day, alas, so I'm too busy to write much. At least it's nice and warm and sunny out today, so I can enjoy walking to the meetings.
Patrick's entry for today is excellent. It made me jealous -- I can't write like that! I always wished I could. The best I can usually do is just noodle around a little. I have a degree in print journalism, which I thoroughly enjoyed getting, but once I graduated I realized I had absolutely no desire to be a reporter. (Newspapers also very rarely hire actual staff anymore -- since so few people actually subscribe to newspapers, they often rely on freelancers. I learned that happy lesson after spending 50 bucks faxing resumes all over greater Boston in search of job. I got one form letter requesting an interview, which turned out to have been sent by mistake. When I called, the woman who answered had no idea what I was talking about. That was a nice shot to the ego...)
Here is the REAL reason I want to be a librarian, heh heh heh...
Seriously, though, when I decided to study journalism, I really had no idea that you could go to school to become a librarian. I don't know where I thought librarians came from -- they just materialized among the books, maybe. I worked for four years in the Emerson College library and loved it; I was very sad when I graduated and had to quit. When I couldn't find a newspaper job (and got tired of hearing "You're more than welcome to freelance for us!") I took a crappy job at a photocopy chain. The crappy job, which I loathed and despised, brought me two very nice things -- my husband, who I met there, and a referral to my job here. I'm not especially interested in business and management, but I do like being surrounded by books all day. When I started working here, I overheard several coworkers talking about the graduate program in Library and Information Science at Simmons College -- it sounded pretty good, and my employer will pay for it, so I figured what the hell, I'll check it out. I'm liking it so far. I get a lot of "You want to be a LIBRARIAN?!? Aren't you a little young for that?" which is just silly. I don't actually know any librarians who fit the spinster, hair-in-a-bun, cat-crazy stereotype. (Okay, I have a cat, and if I had long hair I might consider wearing it in a bun... and I can knit... but I have tattoos! Two of them!) And I like the idea that, once I have my degree, I will be able to move just about anywhere and find some sort of job. I probably won't make much money, but I'm really okay with that.
Posted by Mary Ellen at February 23, 2000 10:39 AM