Yes, we have no bananas
So I was flipping through the March issue of American Libraries (yes, I still like the paper version) and came across a letter that reads:
Your Inside Scoop blog posting, “Obama Invokes Libraries at Governor’s Conference” (Dec. 3, 2008) was a total tear-jerker. It made my day.
It made me not mind having to work another holiday weekend to get ready for another busy week of supporting my school’s awesome students and their talented teachers.
It made me not care that I had to share a banana with my husband at breakfast this morning because we had to dip into our meager monthly food budget to buy extra supplies for the library. [emphasis added]
It made me proud to be a librarian and it made me proud to be an American. Thank you.
Taking pride in your job, good! Going the extra mile for kids? Good! Not having enough money to buy a second banana? Double plus ungood.
Part of taking pride in our profession involves recognizing our own value. Yes, it’s important to have a well-stocked library. Yes, sometimes we do have to go above and beyond, work weekends, bring work home, do work outside our normal “jobs.” But when we’re going the extra mile and don’t have enough money to buy food? Something has to give.
No offense intended to the letter-writer, who’s clearly devoted to her job. However, libraries are more than their collections — if we’re going to argue that we add value above and beyond a room full of books (or a site full of databases), then we need to actually appreciate our own value.
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