"Laura Brown is trying to lose herself. No, that's not it exactly - she is trying to keep herself... In another world she might have spent her whole life reading."
(Michael Cunningham, The Hours, Rep. 2002, pp. 37-39)
I suppose it's a cliche to say I'm a librarian because I love reading books. It might be more accurate to say I'm a librarian because I love reading books AND I like talking about them. For me, there's nothing like finding a client who's read the same things you have. And nothing more exciting than being able to show another where, and how, to find the book/s they're looking for. I know the value of the library as a learning institution. I know libraries aren't all about books. But for me that's what started this. So it's what I thought my first post should be about.
It took me nine years to find The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Even then the impetus to read it came from the film and not a best-sellers list [if my public library didn't have free DVD access who's to say?] Now, I've read it, I'm listing it as my favourite book "of all time". And it features a librarian! Her name is Laura Brown.
Working in libraries, to me, is a challenging, rewarding and sometimes disheartening process. I am saddened by cuts to funding and perplexed by the need to prove public library relevance in an Information Society. Perhaps this is because, like Laura Brown, I could fill my life by reading , just "dreaming as the days go by" (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, p 233).
I think in a global world we have to seek policy makers and politicians who understand the value of reading, who will respect the role libraries play in storing, communicating and creating knowledge. As librarians, I think it's still important to encourage users to read, where we can. Mother Theresa once said "the most terrible poverty is loneliness" (see thinkexist.com). A person who can read is never lonely. To me, that's what Laura Brown's character represents.
So, when I doubt my chosen career (and sometimes I do) I pick up The Hours and it all comes down to this... I like to read, I like to share and I like to learn. Laura Brown was a librarian. So am I.
Bibliography
Cunningham, M 2002 The Hours, Picador USA, New York.
Carroll, L Alice in Wonderland, Priority Books, Peter Haddock Publishing, UK.
