One of those librarians…

Posted July 3, 2012 by Julie Steenson

I had the recent misfortune to encounter one of “those” librarians in a public library.  You know who they are. You have seen them and they are everything we don’t want to be.
We are (or want to be) the kind of librarians who are friendly,  want to help people, and are happy when the library is busy with swarms of people, and children are making joyful noise.  I, for one, am delighted when the book drop is full, the carts need shelving, and a patron with three small children wants to check out a stack of 23 picture books.  It means we are alive!  We are thriving.
But not “those” librarians.  They complain when people use the outside book drop during open hours; Apparently they never had small children in the car asleep while doing errands after work.  They complain when the library is busy because they really hoped to sneak personal computer time.  They delight in informing patrons that they have overdue fines, while they delete fines for themselves.  They ignore all opportunities to teach patrons about remote access to their accounts and online services, and worst of all, they give patrons wrong reference information because getting it right doesn’t seem to be all that important to them.
I came across an Australian TV series, The Librarians, which seems to have one of “those” librarians! Based on the preview, it looks like something I would love to show in a staff development session.  I have ordered myself the first series as I am addicted to my region-free DVD player, so after I receive it, I can fill you in.  Enjoy the preview:
http://youtu.be/g6_dcjR2npU