In some ways, I’m a bit of a maverick.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m a children’s librarian, and very good at my job, thank you very much, but I don’t have the traditional background coming into this field.\u00c2\u00a0 My undergraduate degree is in English, and my graduate degree in children’s literature.\u00c2\u00a0 My two previous careers were as a retail manager in a specialty toy store and as a special education tutor in an elementary school.\u00c2\u00a0 So I don’t have the traditional master’s degree in library science, yet I’m great at what I do.\u00c2\u00a0 How can this be explained?<\/p>\n
In my view, there are several components that make an excellent children’s librarian.\u00c2\u00a0 First and most importantly, a children’s librarian needs to be friendly and approachable.\u00c2\u00a0 Nothing else matters if the public, be they adults or children, are afraid to come to the desk and ask questions.\u00c2\u00a0 For me, this is where my background in retail comes into play.\u00c2\u00a0 When you work retail, you literally live and die by how the customers view you.\u00c2\u00a0 If the customers dislike you, they won’t come into your store, and they won’t spend their money in your store, and you won’t be able to pay for rent or salaries or new merchandise, and your business will die.\u00c2\u00a0 As a retail manager, you simply MUST put the customers first, and a pleasant public facade quickly becomes second nature to you.\u00c2\u00a0 And for me, those “difficult” customers became personal challenges for me: I liked to take on the project of turning a habitually difficult customer into a loyal and happy customer (and it worked, too, in many different cases – maybe some day I’ll share my secrets on how to do this, but not today).\u00c2\u00a0 I view my role as children’s librarian in much the same way as I did my\u00c2\u00a0role as retailer.\u00c2\u00a0 I work for the people of the town in which I am employed, and my first duty is to provide them with excellent service.\u00c2\u00a0 This means eye contact, greeting people with a friendly smile when they walk into my room, and never being too busy to help.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d rather take work home with me than have a library patron feel as if I ignored them.<\/p>\n
For a children’s librarian, the corollary to being friendly and approachable is relating well to kids.\u00c2\u00a0 In my opinion, this can’t be forced – either you’ve got it, or you don’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Kids know when you’re faking it, and kids don’t respond to adults who don’t respect them and enjoy their company.\u00c2\u00a0 But beyond one’s natural affinity for children is actual experience working with children.\u00c2\u00a0 If I hadn’t been raised by my mother, who was an excellent teacher, and if I hadn’t worked in an elementary school for three and a half years, I wouldn’t have the skills to handle the numbers of kids who cycle through the library in the course of a day.\u00c2\u00a0 A well-placed raised eyebrow is worth far more than a screaming fit when controlling the behavior of the after school crowd.\u00c2\u00a0 Gentle humor while issuing a request for quiet gets better results than being a dictator.\u00c2\u00a0 Letting the kids know that you like them, but you really don’t like their behavior – priceless.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tomorrow: more qualities that make a great children’s librarian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In some ways, I’m a bit of a maverick.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m a children’s librarian, and very good at my job, thank you very much, but I don’t have the traditional background coming into this field.\u00c2\u00a0 My undergraduate degree is in English, and my graduate degree in children’s literature.\u00c2\u00a0 My two previous careers were as a retail … Continue reading What makes a good children’s librarian<\/span>