Imagine a place that has more than 10,000 books under one roof? Now imagine being responsible for those books. Isn't that a huge responsibility? Being a librarian is challenging, but is also a lot of fun.
Ask for a book
A librarian doesn't work alone. She has a team that helps her remember where each book is kept. After all, there are more books than she can count on her fingers. The books are sorted by subjects and each subject is assigned a number. Most often there are more than 30 subjects —some of them are Environment, Animals, Picture books, Situational Stories and so on.
A typical day begins with kids coming in to return their books. A book can be kept for two weeks maximum, but if you're a super fast reader then it doesn't take that long. One of our members comes back every day with her set of five books — taking a new set each time. Isn't that impressive?
Many a time a reader asks us for a particular book or a series. We immediately direct them to the subject that that book is categorised under. It’s not difficult to locate a book once you've identified the category it falls under. A librarian also has to ensure that she is in sync with the reading trends as they are constantly changing. She should have a vast network of contacts with publishing houses, schools and NGOs. Publishing houses play an integral part in the development of a library. With new authors appearing everyday, we have to ensure the library is up to date.
A librarian's biggest competition is not another library. It is the Internet and the television. So, it is a librarian's responsibility to make sure she creates awareness about reading through different, innovative ways. This is done by conducting storytelling sessions, celebrating authors’ birthdays, creating an interactive activity calendar and organising workshops.
The biggest joy a librarian gets is the smile on a child’s face when he gets the book he wants. Sometimes it is heartbreaking to say a book isn’t available. But we give them another book and ask them to try that instead. As a librarian you learn to inculcate the habit of reading to children and also learn to be organised. You also acquire a keen sense of knowledge about reading patterns, reading abilities according to age and the ability to innovate and ideate.
When the day is done the librarian ensures that all books are kept back on the shelves so that it can be picked out and explored for another brand new day of reading.
Happy reading, folks!
To be a reader
Read everything. Experiment. Explore.
Return the book to your library after you finish. By doing this, you give another child a chance to read that book.
Be responsible for your books.
