In Praise of Librarianship (12/10)
By Bridget MacMillan
The line that separates my professional and personal lives is very thin. With a home office, a BlackBerry®, and travel obligations, I often find myself working at midnight one evening and on a Sunday the next week, depending on the situation. I look to my personal life for balance, inspiration and creativity; I cultivate them there and then bring them to my professional life. Overall I believe my professional life benefits from my personal experiences far more than my personal life being enhanced by my professional reality. Recently I had an experience that proved different, and that leads me to this column, “In Praise of Librarianship!”
This past summer my parents sold the family home of 43 years, and moved to a town home. While assisting my parents with this move, I realized the skills I have developed as a librarian for the past 15 years were invaluable for just such a project. Allow me to share my thoughts and realizations.
Organizing is a recognized strength of librarians, from organizing information housed in books via cataloging tools to organizing and designing websites that present electronic information in easily accessible links. But it is not merely the organizing that is important. What I realized is that it is the awareness of what is to be done with that information that makes a librarian’s viewpoint special. While helping my parents pack and purge, my siblings would challenge my parents with “Why are you moving these items? They are _______.” (Fill in the blank with worthless, useless or unnecessary.) The point of view was the person asking the question, and the implication was always an underlying judgment. When I asked my parents about items I would seek further clarification as to WHY they wanted to keep something if I did not immediately agree or see its purpose. I compare this to the reference interview, which is getting to the question behind the question. I did not always agree with my parents’ choice to move or discard something, but once they explained why, I could understand it. And this process proved to be much quicker. When my parents and siblings packed together there was tension, but when I packed with them, we were efficient and focused on moving on to the next shelf or room. The librarianship point of view and understanding helped avoid a lot of unnecessary angst between me and my parents!
Seeking help from others is another admirable trait of librarianship. We may not know the answer to a research question, but we know how to find the answer, and we also know we have the community of librarians available to us if we need guidance or assistance. During the move many of my extended family members (cousins, aunts and uncles, and family friends) offered to help, but my parents did not accept any of these offers because they felt overwhelmed. When I heard of these offers, I took it upon myself to coordinate them. My parents were worried that if people came to help and there was nothing for them to do then it would be a waste of their time. I noted that there were many projects that needed doing and that every person who offered to help would be appreciative of the opportunity to really help. My parents have been helping family and friends for years, and now was a chance for people to pay in kind. Experiencing a culture of help in the library community, the expectation of helping those who need help, knowing that there are others who will help me, I believe this makes me astute at understanding and being open to help. I contacted family and friends; and people helped move boxes to the new home, helped unpack and set up the kitchen and the bathrooms, and moved unwanted furniture to new homes. My experience in librarianship paved the way for me to include those who wanted to help, making them happy, and providing a much needed lift to the overall move project!
The last attribute that proved to be critical to the move project was the attitude of service. The profession of librarianship is a profession of service. During the week of the move, I went back home to my parents and stayed with them. I took the week off work so that I could be available to them when they needed me, on their schedule. The surprising thing to me was that not one of my other brothers or sisters thought to do this. My parents are physically and mentally fit. They could handle the move, but with five children, they should not have to handle it alone. Without hesitation I knew my place was with my parents. Neither one of them work in jobs that require project management and strategic planning. Nor have they moved in 43 years, so I knew the scope of the project, and I knew that their energy and enthusiasm to sort, pack or purge would come in waves, and not be something that could be scheduled. In comparison, one of my brothers would say “I can stop by at 4 p.m. for an hour to help, and then I have to be at soccer practice.” And while this appears to be an offer to help, it also comes with limitations and adds pressure to an already tense time. I was there at 9 a.m. when my mom wanted to pack, and at 4 p.m. when my dad wanted to see about moving the landline phone number to a cell phone, and at 9 p.m. when they both wanted to take boxes to the new home. It was exhausting to be on call for that week, but it was the right thing to do to ensure a move with as few problems as possible, and to act as a point person for all the details. And it also meant that my parents had some energy for the unpacking once the move was completed.
Being a librarian means being committed to service, which often means sacrificing—your time, your list of items to do that day, your lunch hour to complete a request. At the end of the week assisting my parents, they were profoundly grateful for my help. I am equally grateful for my profession, librarianship and all my colleagues who have modeled for me the attributes of organization, seeking help and service. A monumental event in the life of my family was completed with less stress and tension due to the librarianship qualities I brought to the project. My professional life enhanced my personal life without a doubt! Librarians, I salute you!
