Back home again!

[orangerful]

It was a whirlwind week and Canada was a little bit rainy but we still had fun. More detailed update, right now I'm just unwinding from the car ride home. Just sped read all your entries (I had DW/LJ 91 emails!!!) so I'm going to relax with the popular meme going around right now:

→ Comment with "We're going to need more coffee"
→ I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
→ Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
→ Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

carbonpaper asked me:

1. I know you like to draw, so what is your favorite thing to doodle?
Little goofy smiley faces. I'll have to doodle one to show you, but they tend to have big, round Muppet-y eyes and their hair is standing up or spiked ala Bart Simpson and usually their smiling with their tongue hanging out (i.e. making a crazy face which is why they are usually doodled in the margins of my meeting notes).

2. What was your favorite book to get at the library when you were a kid?
Hm...I feel like that question would be better for my Mom LOL. Honestly (and this will tie into the next question a bit) in middle school I was obsessed with The Beatles so I spent a LOT of time checking out anything and everything about them and pouring over the photographs and facts. So I am going to say Beatles books.

3. What made you want to become a librarian? Just a love of books?
NOPE! In fact, it is probably better if you don't love books too much if you work at a library because you have to throw away so many of them on a daily basis. It is my love of information, which is really what the core of libraries are. Information used to come from books exclusively, but that is obviously not the case anymore. We are trying to move our "brand" away from books 24/7/365 because it is just not true. **puts soapbox under the bed**

Anyway, I became a librarian because I found myself wanting people to ask me questions. I did start out in libraries, I was a Page all through high school and college, putting books away on the shelves. I quit that job and wanted to do something "cool" so I worked for a radio station right after college. But what I realized after awhile was that I wanted people to call in and ask me about the artists, to answer their questions and it slowly dawned on my that there was a job like that! So I made my way back to the library and worked part-time for a year to see if it was really what I wanted. And I've never looked back. And in two weeks, I'm going to interview for manager position **crosses fingers**

4. What has been your favorite concert experience? Worst?
I've been to so many shows, but a few stick out in my mind - my first Pearl Jam concert, which broke all the "Don't meet random internet people" rules...but she had an LJ and an extra ticket, how could she be bad? LOL. But what made the concert memorable was I spent the entire night jumping and singing along and the person next to me said "Wow, you're cool!" and that had never happened before LOL.

Worst would probably be when I saw Paramore at the Fillmore and this group of obnoxious, wasted assholes pushed their way in front of us well into the show and then were loud and obnoxious and drunk in front of me. I just don't have time for that kind of bullshit, I am there to enjoy a band and you are wasted, you should go to a wasted area and leave me alone. This is when I can get a bit "gatekeeper" and I'm like REAL fans don't get drunk at shows and ruin it for everyone! Blargh. I had not left a concert angry before until that one.

5. Do you like living in Maryland?
While it can get expensive, I really do like it because you can't beat the location. I can get to so many places if I just drive for a bit. Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, Atlanta, all driveable distances. History is just lying around, again in a pretty close radius. Stuff happened here and there is always something going on. And we tend to be pretty progressive, at least as a state, though parts of my county not-so-much but whatever, I work in a public library so lots of progressive/liberally minded people as my coworkers which keeps me sane.

Every now and then I ponder the idea of moving but I don't know where I would go. Maybe further north, I do like New England and I have friends up that way. But most places are either too far from anything or too crazy expensive - I mean, it might be fun to live in California for a little bit but I'm pretty sure no librarian could afford that LOL.

Comments

[rhoda_rants]

Hey there! I'm glad you had a good time in Canada! Happy catching-up and readjusting to normal life. (Well, what passes for "normal" these days, anyway.)

We're Going To Need More Coffee!

And you're gonna laugh, but the big thing I used to get at the library? Sweet Valley High books. Every single one. Mostly from the same library where I'm working now, only there was no "Teen" section back then and the layout was very different.

I definitely started working for the library because I love books, and you are SO right. It was torture the first time I had to discard books. But you get used to it. It's a finite space after all, and often you reorder stuff that just gets worn out.

Funny thing I've started to notice about reference questions though, especially if you set up a 1 on 1 appointment to talk technology with someone, is once you get through the "And that's how you set up your email" part of the conversation, they will keep you talking and give you their whole life story. Which, if you have the time for it, can be fascinating. This woman setting up her laptop yesterday told me about moving from Florida to New York to Virginia and how she'd become Teacher of the Year for various projects she'd created. She was really cool, and I'm glad there was someone else at the desk at the time. Do you ever get that?

[orangerful]

YES! We all get that and depending on what kind of story they have and how busy we are, my reaction varies LOL. I've had people trying to upload photos to Facebook and they want to tell me about every photo they took. But sometimes you hear great stories and it's not so bad sitting there for a few more minutes while they share. :)

1. I know you are my horror aficionado friend - what horror movie should everyone watch, regardless if they are fans of the genre or not?

2. What is the weirdest library interaction you've had? (if you can pick just one LOL)

3. What is your favorite swear word/exclamation?

4. Why do you like My Chemical Romance so much?

5. Do you think you'll ever go full Librarian and get your MLS (does your library system require an MLS to move up?)

[yourlibrarian]

I'm like REAL fans don't get drunk at shows and ruin it for everyone! Blargh. I had not left a concert angry before until that one.

That reminds me of a concert I went to where these two couples in front of us spent the entire time talking together and not watching the show at all, which was very distracting. I don't know why they bothered going.

I second your answer about library work, though my only path was quite different. But I liked helping people and discovered I also liked teaching, which I hadn't expected. Plus librarians are awesome trivial pursuit players ;)

[orangerful]

Librarians are the biggest nerds out there, people have no idea. I mean, they assume we like reading, but they don't know how much culture - high and pop - we have to absorb to be good at our jobs. I was thinking how hard it would be to be a librarian anywhere else in the world or even in the country! I know so much about American culture, specifically suburban metro-area east coast progressive/liberal United States culture. When I worked just an hour north, in a more suburban/rural conservative area, I felt myself struggling because what people wanted and what they knew was so different. It is just another aspect of the job that it is hard to put into words especially to someone who doesn't work in the field.

[yourlibrarian]

That's an interesting point, yes, kind of like a legal job. The knowledge you use for the job becomes quite localized.