Why I became a librarian.

Why I became a librarian.

 Well technically I am not a librarian I am a library assistant.
 I became a library assistant after I graduated. I worked in a local authority public library. This was before computers were used in libraries or anywhere else for that matter. Members had three or four library cards with their names and addresses handwritten on them. After my initial training in the management of a library , I was assigned to a mobile library. Each morning the driver and I set off around the countryside on a preset route, stopping at crossroads and villages and at houses to bring books to young and old - Westerns, Mills and Boons, historical novels,  autobiographies etc.and also children's books. We knew the preferences of all our clients and it was necessary to have lots of new titles each time we visited.No use going back with the ones they had already read or you would get a telling off!
Some customers would be unable to come to the van and so we would bring the books to the door and collect the returns.

Even though the library job was meant to be just temporary while waiting for a teaching job, I loved the work and the people  so much that I decided to continue, and stayed until my first child was born. Happily after 16 years I was able to return to library work again; this time to an academic library. While the client base is very different and the work methods,computerisation etc. have changed greatly, librarianship is still an interesting and fulfilling job for me.