[Publib] Re: Why Librarianship

[Michael Golrick]

Leah Habersham <llhabersham at yahoo.com> asked: "Just out of curiosity...
what inspired you to become a librarian?"

My answer is: Miss Osborn. She was the Children's Librarian in my
hometown library (Shrewsbury Free Public Library, in Massachusetts). She
encouraged so many of us to read. She did story times with all the
traditional activities, which is why I can say the Native American name
of the lake in Webster Massachusetts which is the longest place name in
this country.

By the time I was in high school, she had become the Library Director.
She hired me as a page. As time went on (and I stuck it out), I got more
and more "interesting" tasks to do. They included riding the bookmobile,
checking the journals against the catalog, etc. Now my next door
neighbor (Mrs. Ober) was both on the Library Board (elected) and was the
public high school librarian. Between the two of them, they encouraged
me.

When I got to college, my work study job was...in the library. By the
end of four years, I was often the senior student assistant, and in
charge of services in the building during the late night hours. In that
job, there were several of the staff who very strongly encouraged me so
that I went to library school straight from undergrad....graduated on a
Monday, started classes the next Monday.

Do I regret it? Not for a moment. Its been 30 years so far, and will be
at least another 20, I guess (based on the size of the loans *I* have
for my kids' education). When it gets boring or no longer fun, maybe
I'll change careers. Hasn't happened yet.

Excellent question Leah!

Michael

Michael A. Golrick              mgolrick at bridgeportpubliclibrary.org
City Librarian                  http://www.bridgeportpubliclibrary.org
Bridgeport Public Library	203/576.7777 (office)
925 Broad Street		203/333.0253 (fax)
Bridgeport CT 06604-4871

ALA Executive Board

http://michaelgolrick.blogspot.com