It’s my one year library anniversary and I’m posting about it because I'm a dork

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(Or rather, it was last Tuesday, but this post didn’t get finished then because I haven’t been in the most celebratory of moods. But! It’s still my library anniversary week, so I’ve decided it’s not too late. Sometimes you have to make the emotional space for the celebration you don’t initially feel like having.)

One year ago, I started work at my library. My year had its ups and downs, but I did achieve several things I’m quite proud of. I’m not going to write a long soul-searching essay about my successes and failures and all the things I learned, but I wanted to mark the occasion somehow because this has been an important year to me. So briefly, here are five noteworthy things about my first year in public libraries:

1. My job makes me feel connected to where I live. Library advocates are not kidding when they say libraries are at the heart of local communities, and when you work in one you become a small part of that beating heart yourself. I’ve been living in my current location for a little over a year now, and already I feel like I have roots here in a way I never did in the city where I went to graduate school. People who use the library regularly say hello to me on the streets; people I don’t even necessarily remember come up to me and ask me what time we’re open that day, because I’m perceived as part of a service they treasure. The very public nature of my job can have its downsides, especially when you live in a fairly small town, but I’m determined to focus on the positive because 99% of these interactions have been positive and warm. I’m acquainted with a large number of people and I’m up to date when it comes to local resources and events, and it’s hard to feel like a stranger for very long when your work puts you in contact with all of that.


2. Frontline work has made me more confident. When I was in library school one of the assignments we were given was to write a personal essay about what had driven us to libraries and what we expected our future to be like. One of the things I remember thinking at the time was that part of me was drawn to behind-the-scenes, data-driven work because it would be easier for shy, quiet, socially anxious little me, but that I suspected that working more closely with people would be more rewarding despite the scary and challenging elements. This is exactly what has happened. The thing about talking to people day after day is that after a while it comes naturally. I don’t find professional interactions scary anymore — the fact that there’s a script for them and that the knowledge I keep accumulating means I know what I’m doing most of the time makes them fairly easy. As an introvert I do find social situations demanding and I need a lot of downtime to recharge my batteries, but I’ve long ago made my peace with this. As a result of my work, I’ve let go of most fears I had about being terrible with people, and I’ve found that the confidence I’ve developed has spread to other areas of my life.


3. I love my library. By this I mean that I love the space itself. I’ve been to a lot of public libraries over the past few years (whenever I travel I make a point of trying to see what they’re like in the place I’m visiting), and very rarely have I seen one I like as much as mine. My library is big (three floors) and very busy (one of the top five busiest public libraries in the UK). It’s also modern, well-lit, comfortable, welcoming, well-organised, and used by so many people for so many different purposes every day that anyone who believes public libraries are obsolete will be dissuaded of that notion if they spend more than half an hour in the place. I love it, and every day I feel lucky to work there.


4. Books! I’d be a hypocrite if I didn't mention the books. It’s obviously true that public libraries are about much more than just books and reading, but I’m a reader development librarian at heart and I don’t want to buy into the foolish notion that this aspect of library work is uncool or passé. We have an awesome book collection and that matters. We have plenty to pick from when we want to do displays or other forms of reader’s advisory work. I love how my job means I can easily access a wide range of books, and how the constant book discovers I’ve made in the past year have allowed me to develop my expertise at no cost.


5. Believing in your work is a pretty awesome feeling. If I’m 100% honest I’ll have to admit I find full-time work very draining, and that in an ideal world where financial considerations weren’t an issue I’d work 20 to 25 hours a week and devote the rest of my time to all the other things I enjoy and want to do with my life (like continuing to put words about my reading on the Internet on a semi-regular basis). But if I’m to spend 8 hours a day doing something, I’m grateful that it’s something that contributes to a service I believe in and that’s so important to me personally. I sincerely think public libraries make the world a better place, and I’m happy to do my bit to keep them going.

So yeah, happy library anniversary to me, and fingers crossed that in another year I’ll have more things to look back on and feel pleased about.