I am Librarian, hear me ROAR!!!

It seems a theme is emerging. After yesterdays post about the value of libraries, everywhere I went I thought about it more. Thought of more interesting and varied arguments. Got more and more exasperated everytime the subject of libraries and their closure entered my addled mind. It may seem like the highest form of self congratulatory guff to tell you how brilliant libraries and librarians are, but I hereby REFUSE to apologise for it. We have spent so long being the ultimate in support professional that we perhaps have literally done ourselves a disservice. I have discussions everyday with my colleagues regarding how Libraries are seen as a place rather than a service. I overheard a conversation the other day whilst trying to drink a lovely cup of tea between two people who believed they didn’t “really” use the library as they only went there to go on the internet and never borrowed books. I’ve even get lecturers telling me that they never use the library as everything they need is right there at their desktop. WRONG!!!! Who precisely do they think has done the organising to get “everything they need right there at their desktop” ? errmmm.... LIBRARIANS! Who do they think helps their students out when they put a resource on a reading list? Errrmmm.... LIBRARIANS. Who organises the Institutional repository so that their research is gathered together for when REF finally kicks in... hellooo?.... guess who?..... all together now, 1...2...3... LIBRARIANS!!!!!!!!! So no longer will we sit quietly in the shadows with our knowledge and willingness to make your life easier! We’ll still do it. We like doing it. It makes our job worthwhile and we are bloody good at it. BUT we will shout about it. We will advocate. We are Librarians. We staff Libraries in your Schools, Hospitals, Law Firms, Public Libraries, Organisations, Academic Institutions, Charities and more. We will not sit quietly with our fingers to our lips, we will shout! We are Librarians hear us SHHHHHHHH!