Let it Go!

Posted March 29, 2014 by Maggie Davidov

So, I’m going to come clean. I watched Frozen for the first time this weekend. I don’t want to say it changed my life, but I’m definitely in some sort of magical place. I was thinking about the last time I was in this euphoric state and I remembered it exactly. It was when I finished the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. No, I’m not a sadist. I don’t enjoy suffering and death. It was just such a wonderfully romantic story. It filled me with hope and I think pushed me to further understand the human condition.

I tell you all this because I think libraries are in a unique position insofar as they are the dispensaries of these emotionally transformative materials. Amazon is not the only peddler of these fine products. We too share these artistic treasures, and what’s more, we put a human face behind it all. We have the opportunity to share our opinions about these books and films with patrons in a number of forums: blogs, reference interviews, readers advisory, programming events, displays, tweets, tumblr, facebook posts, shelfari, goodreads. In this information age, the librarian has a number of ways to reach patrons.

So, this is my wisdom for the week: Spread the word and find more ways to do just that. Watch a great film (COUGH – Frozen) or read a gripping book (COUGH – anything by John Green) and find an enticing way to share that item with a patron. We do an excessive amount of critical analysis and technical tasks in our line of work, and that’s incredibly important. It’s what separates us from the beasts (i.e. computers). However, I relish the sharing that our profession also demands from us. We need to share our passions with others. We need to be passionate. So go forth and be pumped about your latest love affair with a book. The people who use libraries will be thrilled that you are.