How and why I became a librarian

My world has always been full of books, stories and information and libraries have always played a big part in that.  There was a small redbrick library at the top of my road and as a child I read everything in it I could get my hands on.  Finally being allowed into the adult library was an important day.

In the middle of my A levels I attended an interview to work at the British Library of Political and Economic Science and spent my gap year working in the archives.  Notable collections included the Booth Maps of London, Ionian Bank records and the Beatrice and Sidney Webb archives.  There was a collection of blankets to lend to scholars for protection from the cold necessary to preserve the manuscripts.  Having to ask esteemed academics to take their notes in pencil was a downside.

My degree in history and philosophy was excellent cover for my recreational reading habit and I devoured the fiction collection housed in a volunteer run library in my college.  Graduating in the middle of a recession, I was fortunate to return to working in a library.  A few years later I gained my Dip Lib from Ealing following part time study and my chartership after that. I am happy and proud to be a member of such a distinguished and ancient profession. 

My work has been exclusively in education libraries although I remain a regular user of my local public library.  I have worked in higher education, further education and more recently a school library. By far the best bit of my current role is enabling students to discover that they too are readers.  The worst is concern for my sector and profession.  Libraries are emancipation, I so hope that they will survive the austerity era.

I love what I'm currently doing and hope to keep improving at it. Sometimes I hanker after a new school library to establish from scratch and the chance to fill more children's worlds with books, stories and information.