For the Virtues I Have Acquired as a Librarian, I Am Truly Thankful

I spend a lot of time bemoaning the nonsense that patrons get up to in the library (let’s face it, it’s a lot of damn nonsense), and sometimes all that tomfoolery really bums me out. I start to question my life’s work. I wonder why I even bother. This week, in the middle of writing another list of stuff that annoys the hell out of me when it comes to librarianship, I closed the computer and took a mental health break. I drank a beer, watched some very bad television, and cuddled my dog. I refused to check my work email. The next morning, I opened my computer back up and came up with a new list; a list of things that librarianship has given me. A list I feel thankful for—even if those things weren’t necessarily appreciated at the time.

I.
Patience

This is a big one. Whether it’s waiting for somebody to finish up on the computer so you can close the library and FINALLY eat dinner or being forced to listen to a patron complain about the fact that the temperature is too cold/hot/lukewarm for their liking, librarianship has taught me infinite patience. It’s hard to sit and listen to people complain. It makes you want to stuff your fingers in your ears and start humming the theme from Jeopardy.

At the end of the day, library work is a service job—and that means that the number one thing you’re doing is serving the public. That includes listening to complaints. And sometimes when I am listening to people complain, I realize they just want someone to listen to them. So it has helped me have patience in other areas of my life, to know that at the end of the day we all just want to the opportunity to bitch about something. We want people to listen to us. Okay, yes, some people are just big ol’ pills—but it’s helped me realize that if I have patience for them, I can basically deal with anything. Which leads me to my next point…

II.
A Sense of Humor

Oh buddy! Do you think I was always this naturally hilarious? Well, I mean, the kernel of humor was inside me all along, but working in a library has allowed me to view all of humanity as a spectacle ripe for amusement. Have I watched someone look up the phrase “take me to the search engine that starts with a G” on Google? Yes. Have I been asked how to spell “fornicate” while sitting at the reference desk? Also yes. Has a small child ever asked me if I was going to have a baby because I decided to wear a peasant top one Storytime after eating six donuts in the staff lounge? A hearty HELL YES. I mean, if I can’t laugh at myself, then what’s the point? Being around a variety of people in a community space has allowed me the true and delightful joy of understanding that people are just goofy all the time. So am I, a total dummy, and frankly I think that’s terrific.

III.
Empathy

Whether it’s dealing with an angry patron or comforting a crying kid at Storytime, library work has allowed me to better understand and more carefully respond to other people’s emotions. As a person who has a difficult time parsing what I feel a lot of the time—once on a date when a woman told me that I made her happy I responded “like a human happy meal, huh”—this has been extremely important work for me. Having empathy for patrons means that I can better understand their problems and work more diligently to provide answers. Having empathy means that I am sometimes exhausted at the end of the day, true, but it also means that I am giving support to others in a way that will work to better my community. If I can’t have empathy for people, then I can’t be a librarian. Because above all, serving the community means understanding that everyone needs to be supported and understood. If I want that for myself, then I need to provide it. It’s a reciprocal relationship.

IV.
Getting to the Root of a Problem

Library work means that I am daily figuring out the Rubik’s cube of the human brain. Trying to dig free the question that library patrons are actually trying to ask me has turned me into a master detective. Whether it’s someone wanting directions or a person asking me about a book they read as a child but they can only remember that it had a bumblebee in it, my brain is hyperactive; I’m constantly thinking-thinking-thinking at my job. This has happily bled into other areas: now when I’m trying to solve problems in my day-to-day personal life, I can use the skills that I’ve gleaned from assisting patrons with their questions. I can help friends, too. I can better understand the connections between issues. I can say with 100 percent assurance that my own life is enhanced because of helping other people.

V.
Better Writing

Okay, to clarify, I mean this has helped me better understand the human condition. To be a better writer, a person needs to read—constantly. I’d also like to add that for myself, being a better writer has also meant being around a wide and varied assortment of patrons. It’s meant listening to the weird and funny ways that people interact with each other. Listening to conversations and questions. Watching how people in a community fight and hope and love each other. I am a better writer because of what patrons have taught me. This is truly invaluable. I am extremely grateful for it.

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So yeah, sometimes library work drains me. Sometimes I wonder if I need a break. But thinking about all the good things I’ve gotten from it reassures me that I’m doing the work I need to do. The right work. So I’ll be thankful for that and thankful for all of you.

Except the people who keep jamming the copy machine. I’ve gotta draw the line somewhere.