I had so many important questions that I did not even know how to form in my mouth. The internet would have answered questions I had not even asked yet. It would have formed me into someone totally different. I would not have liked who I would have become. I know this in my heart.
I decided to keep my opinions and ideas to myself and wait for a more productive time to share and test them out on folks.
In the mean time I continued to read and learn. As I said earlier I decided also it was time for me to grow in ways that I had previously not. I buckled down once again to see what other avenues of thought were open to me at a pretty great high school. Over the years there one idea developed for sure: I figured out the things I did NOT want to do with my life.
Again, I have forgotten the librarians' names at the high school. I do appreciate their efforts in keeping the most up to date things they could at the time. They had an enormous task before them and did it very well. Again though, some of my favorite librarians were actually literature teachers. Ms. Beard and Ms. Boehmer.
These two ladies worked within the confines of a small school corporation to inspire young minds to think beyond what they were told, to think beyond themselves, and more importantly just HOW TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES. They used books and assorted reading materials to introduce new and old concepts and philosophies to us. Archetypes and Utopian Societies. Those are the two most important things I got from their classes. Oh, no, it was not. To question, to do my own research, to comprehend and act with RESPECT while doing all these things are the most important things I learned from them. I learned that it was ok for me to be fed up with being a teenager, but act in a way that reflected a more mature attitude then. I learned that it was ok to be fed up with the way things always seemed to be run, but act in a way that was respectful and responsible. Those ideas do not always look the same in every situation. I learned that debate was not being disrespectful, nor was it bad form. As a matter of fact I learned more about a respectful, well prepared, and productive debate in these two ladies' classes and than I have ever seen exemplified elsewhere before or since. Everything was up for discussion. I do not remember anything being turned down for discussion - but then again that was 1983 - 1987 not 2013. Many things in life have changed since then. But then again they really have not, have they?
We still need people who are in positions of leadership and power and influence to do those things with respect, with a thought toward what is really better for those they are leading, in power over, and in influence of. We need people who really CARE about their profession. A librarian is so much more than just an paper pusher or mouse clicker sitting behind a counter giving you dirty looks when you turn in books late. As a matter of fact most librarians LOVE me after they get to know me. My over due fines are sure to have produced the Massanet Wing at the St Louis Public Library...
http://www.facebook.com/STLpubLibrary
http://www.slpl.org/
added a whole new children's department for several small libraries scattered here and there, and probably provided funds for several community programs developed all over Indiana. I am a virtual Carnegie of over due fines. NO I am not advocating stacking up over due fines wherever you go! I am just making fun of myself and my habit of loving books too much to want to turn them back in on time. I seemed to have, at one time, viewed due dates as a loose idea, not as a rule I think.....
Speaking of due dates: this is what started this whole line of Librarians I Have Loved.
An old check out card placed in the middle of a book and forgotten there for a few years.
See, I even loved to look at the info these cards held. At one time the card belonged to the book attached to it. Later to conserve cards, just whatever card was in the return box was used for the next book checked out. But, in the beginning when a card was designated to a particular book and kept in its sleeve, you could tell when the last time the book was checked out. RENEWAL was usually stamped, or just the name rewritten in again.
As you can see in some instances you could see WHO had borrowed the book and when.
This led me to remember way way way back in the days of Junior high School I had borrowed two books on Irish Folk Literature form the Fayette County Public Library. I remember looking at the check out card and only one other person had checked those books out in the 11 years they had been in the circulation stacks. I thought How Sad.
No one else knew about the adventures of Cu Chulainn and his hounds. Or Brighid. Or Fionn mac Cumhaill and The Fianna of Ireland. Or Connor Mac Nessa.
http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/
I did what I was not supposed to do. I checked them out and never brought them back. I paid the lost book fees and kept the books. That was possibly about 1982. In about 2001 I came back to Indiana and told my story to the librarian and paid out a gift to the library. I had to relieve my thieving mind. She laughed at me and said "You know you probably relieved the collection of some dead weight - AND you said you paid the lost book fee at the time. That covered the cost to put NEW books in circulation. You did us a favor, no one had checked those books out since the first person, no one CARED."
That made me even more sad. Because I had, in the interim, lost the books for real.
- Suzanna
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