I
could say that I decided to become a librarian because I wanted to change the
world, to change people’s mind by engaging them with wonderful works of
literature. The truth is not so
altruistic, I’m afraid. The truth is
that I became a Librarian because I didn’t really know what to do in life and I
liked the idea of being a Librarian. It
turned out that I made the right choice, since it’s a job that has suited me well
over the years, and my career and working environment has changed with me as I
have changed and grown.
I didn’t
initially have much interest in working with books, and it’s a common
misconception that librarians only work with books in public libraries. I have had brief flirtations with more
traditional libraries over the years, but it is only in the last three out of nearly
20 years that I have worked in the more traditional setting of a school library. As library professionals, we know that librarians
work across both private and public sectors and with a variety of different
media. Librarians are stereotyped as old
and fuddy-duddy, yet in reality we are often at the forefront of
technology. The technology I use in my
job on a daily basis has constantly changed and will continue to do so if we
are too keep up with trends. I have
worked in a pharmaceutical library, a national museum in London, a law library,
for a television company, in a couple of university libraries and now in a
school library. My career has been varied
and whilst there have been, and still are, mundane moments, for the most part I
have enjoyed a career where each day may bring a new set of challenges and
where I can never predict the request that might be about to come walking
through the door.
