[Publib] On Being a Director

[John]

"All I ever wanted to be was a reference librarian," is the line I've often used.  And all I've ever been was/is a director.  Sometimes when I say that, my female colleagues snort and say, "Well, of *course*, all the men get the good administrative jobs," etc.  But I really did NOT start out to be a director.  I interviewed at the Oak Park, IL, PL for a reference job--where the director had worked at the Topeka Public Library of my youth, mentioned in a "Why librarianship?" post I just sent--and didn't get it.  Then the head librarian's job at the Winfield, KS, PL was advertised.  It was in KANSAS, my home state, and only about 25 miles from Wellington, the town where my dad had grown up and where my paternal grandparents still lived.  So there was some familiarity there, and--being the somewhat anxious type--I wanted a JOB, and feared that I would never get one and would be forever homeless, penniless, hungry and begging on the street...and after interviewing, Winfield offered me the job.  So I took it.  I did get to do reference work, because it was a small library.  Also circ, typing catalogue cards, and a host of other things.  In the process, I discovered my desire to control the world, have "my" library, and after that I was a director.  I never thought about oppressing some poor woman who might want my job.  I'm still not paid nearly as well as, say, my pharmacist brothers-in-law, or my incredibly well-off lawyer brother, so I may be male--no, I *am* male, no confusion there, although I am confused about many things, most of them technological--but compared to the men I know who've made it big in the private sector, I'm not rich.

And that's how I got to be a director.  Along the lines of other people who've posted and suggested that they got to be directors through some kind of unintentional (?) process.

John D. Richmond, Director
Alpha Park Public Library District
3527 So. Airport Road
Bartonville, IL 61607
Ph: 309-697-3822, x. 12
Fax: 309-697-9681
Email: jrichmond at alphapark.org
_______________________________________________
When I open my eyes I must sigh, for what I see is contrary to my religion, and I must despise the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.  -- Ludwig van Beethoven