Misconceptions

I really feel like we're getting to the home stretch now - two thirds done!

So, misconceptions. I think there are several massive misconceptions about libraries and library staff, so stop me if you've heard any of them:

1. Working in a library is all shushing and stamping
2. You work in a library? How wonderful, I'd love to read books all day!
3. The typical librarian (see also Fashion, which I'll be talking about on 25th) - female, spinster, wears cardigans, glasses and hair in a bun. Loves cats.

That's enough to be getting on with, I think! Right, let's tackle them one at a time...

Shushing and stamping

My four stamps!

Okay, I'll accept the stamping part - I got four of the dang things! But as everyone who's ever worked in a library knows, it's not the librarians who do the shushing - it's the readers ;) Seriously though, there's no space behind the scenes for me to do my work, so if I have to talk to people, on the phone or in person, I have to do it in the library. And in lots of libraries it's quite common to see areas for silent study, quiet study and group study nowadays. And have you been to the public library during Rhyme Time?!

Reading books

Last year I attempted a "19 for 19" - I would read 19 books, watch 19 films, play 19 gigs, cook 19 dishes/bake 19 cakes, finish 19 craft projects... I successfully completed 19 films, and that was it. I read 3 books last year. Three. And one of those I'd read before!

At work, I don't really read at all. I read to keep up with current trends and see what's happening in the library world (Twitter is very useful here), and then the bare minimum when cataloguing in order to classify something correctly. There are people who work in libraries and read all day. They're called researchers!

The Typical Librarian

Desk Set (1957) starring Katherine Hepburn as a librarian

Alright, there's a kernel of truth in this one, bound up in a lot of fiction, assumption and subversion. So yes, historically, being a librarian was a respectable job for a single woman. Because it's a service industry, it's female-dominated and poorly paid (female-dominated until you get to the higher echelons, anyway, grr...). The spinster thing - yes, if you were single, you had to work. Mind you, given what seems to me a high number of LGBTQ+ people in libraries around (I know probably 30-50 library workers in libraries in Cambridge, and maybe a third of them are LGBTQ+), I wonder whether librarianship is just diversity-friendly? Maybe of those spinsters, there were some who had no intention of finding a man to settle down with...

The cardigans - most of us would be overdressed in a suit, and cardigans don't mess with your hair when you put them on. The glasses, yes, that happens a lot, and frankly so do the cats - I'm seeing a lot of them now we're all working from home! So I guess this is not so much of a misconception after all. Which is interesting, because I see a lot of library staff getting huffy online complaining about how they don't fit this stereotype, when actually, a lot of us kinda do. What I think the problem is, largely, is that the stereotype is somehow a negative portrayal of a person. But why's that?

Library Building

Aaaaaand I've managed to get behind - a combination of too much work and too many children! There was a nosebleed today, so that was half the afternoon gone. But no matter.

Courtyard Entrance of the Fitz

There's not much to say about my own library building - it's pretty modern, not very exciting. Mind, better to be warm in winter and chill in summer in a modern building than the opposite in a pretty but old building that is not designed with comfort in mind! Founder's Library is beautiful, looks just like an educated person's study, but it's not the most comfortable place to work.

Founders Library

So, I have visited other libraries, both in Cambridge and further afield. I think the Library of Congress is probably the furthest afield, and is absolutely amazing, and  holds a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, but I did love the New York Public Library, which contains the original toys that belonged to Christopher Robin.

New York Public Library

But buildings-wise both the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library are a fairly generic sort of Hellenic style. It's grand, certainly, but perhaps a little dull? And I had to laugh when we went on the Library of Congress tour. The guide warned us to be careful on the marble staircase, which was over a hundred years old and worn unevenly - I couldn't help but think of some colleges which had been around a bit longer than that with steps which have worn away to nothing!

Main entrance hall of Library of Congress

Entrance to Jesus College - very worn!

A few years back, I was at a conference which had a visit to the John Rylands Library included. That was fascinating, because on the face of it, the building is absolutely fantastic. It's Victorian neo-Gothic, rather like the classic London stations, but so peculiar, because we have actual Gothic buildings around. One look at this, and it feels like a stage set - it's all far too new to look convincing!

John Rylands Library

That was the same feeling for me when I visited the Cloisters (not a library, but bear with me). The building was basically constructed using parts from Gothic ruins across Europe - some from Spain, some from Germany, some from France. It was lovely, but bizarre, a sort of chimera of not-quite-right, and made for a very unsettling feeling!

Cloisters

So instead it's the old college libraries I love, with wooden panels, ornately carved architraves and  ceilings. There's often a greater quirkiness to them, and no two are alike. I've visited a few, and don't think I have a particular favourite, but I have a bit of a soft spot for Christ's, since it was where I had  a rehearsal once, and definitely makes the grade as one of the prettiest places I've ever rehearsed!

Christ's College Old Library