to think a school librarian should have heard of Wolf Hall and actually read books?

Well, it was a huge book. Is a huge book. You must have avoided bookshops for years if you didn’t see it. And you must have heard of Hilary Mantel, surely?!

School librarian here, a lot of schools have cut back massively on their libraries, there is no legal obligation for a school to have a library (interestingly prisons are obliged to have a library, but not schools but that's a discussion for another day!). We don't get paid to read (sadly!), Many school librarians, where they exist have multiple hats, the library is a tiny part of an overall job. Ideally (I use the word ideally because often staff are so over stretched they don't get the opportunity to build their knowledge) they should have a working knowledge of children's literature eg, Phil Earle, Suzanne Collins, Catherine Doyle, Bea Fitzgerald, not Hilary Mantel who is an adult author and why on earth should they have read that book? I haven't read a single David Walliams book and have no plans to despite my job, and there is no expectation for me to do so .

I’ve not heard of it, not heard anyone recommending it before this thread, and I’ve just read the blurb on Amazon and it doesn’t interest me. It’s not something I’d pick up, but usually I’ve heard of huge books even if they’re not for me.

@Regretsmorethanafew why can't anyone answer the question rather than getting snarky, I'm a qualified librarian, and I want you to tell me, what part of my job requires me to be a frequent reader, I'm really interested to know?

Christ. I've heard it all now.
School librarian wanted, non readers perfect.

Fuck me.

You are putting words in my mouth.

I have not suggested that someone not reading a particular author means they are uncultured.

I do suggest that an English teacher should have enough curiosity about their subject to know something about both current high literary and popular literary culture. Wolf Hall is one of the most celebrated novels of the last 20 years, Hilary Mantel one of the most celebrated literary novelists.

She doesn't have to like it, or have chosen to read it. But to not even know about it suggests a lack of interest in literature.

Seriously? Why does a school librarian need to read?

Yes, what part of their job do you think requires them to read? What do you think a qualified librarian does exactly?

I've been to both state and private schools (and I'm quite old) but I've never heard of a school librarian.

Seriously? Why does a school librarian need to read?

It is not. Culture is wide and someone not knowing about any given author doesn't mean they are uncultured - if you think that, then you are the reductive one.

Anyway, I rather suspect the OP won't return, so I'll leave you to it.

Why is he in this job?

Why does a librarian need to read?

he doesn't read books

Whether he has heard of Wolf Hall or not wouldn't be my main concern. I would be concerned about the not reading books though .

Why is he in this job?

This is such a reductive view of education and culture.

Hilary Mantel died in 2022. The new Wolf Hall adaptation premiered on TV six months ago. Both heavily featured in the mainstream UK press, with huge promo in bookshops, the literary press etc.

You don't have to have read Wolf Hall (I haven't) or be interested in historical fiction (I'm not) to know about this cultural icon. An English teacher certainly should be.

Honestly, I think it's a matter of opinion "what people should have heard of" and no doubt that poster has heard of many authors that I haven't who are more relevant to the group she teaches.

Well yes- but surely an English teacher should at least have heard of the best recent authors even if she hasn’t read them? By recent I mean late 20th century to present.

Another person who’s missed the point that this isn’t about reading Wolf Hall, it’s about knowing it exists. And a school librarian is also about the culture of reading within school.

No I haven't missed the point of the thread. You expect a librarian to know every book that's ever been written? What do you think they study? The postgraduate qualification a librarian studies doesn't even mention authors. The content of the source material is irrelevant.

A librarian's job is to locate the book you want, yes they source books but that'll likely be done via specified aggregated lists, (likely curriculum led) meaning they won't come into contact personally with every book they manage. They may not come from a literary background at all, many come from computer science backgrounds these days.

Wolf Hall won the Booker in 2009. Someone who is an NQT today is what, 22? Making them about 6 or 7 when it came out and doing A levels - and surviving a pandemic -when the third book came out in March 2020.

And if you aren't fussed about costume dramas, you may well not have paid attention to the dramatisation on the BBC when that came out when you were all of 13.

I really try not to be a literary snob- people can obviously read what they like- but I do find it a bit perturbing that an English teacher wouldn’t even have heard of Hilary Mantel. She’s one of the foremost British authors of the last 30 years! Perhaps the comment by Anewdawnanewname is a joke?

Embarrassing.

Another person who’s missed the point that this isn’t about reading Wolf Hall, it’s about knowing it exists. And a school librarian is also about the culture of reading within school.

You do realise that being a librarian doesn't have to be anything to do with reading. Librarians are qualified in information literacy, locating information, not reading all the information. They are there to help you find the book you need, not make book recommendations, unless you're in a cheesy 90s romcom.

No, it's more like questioning if a chef in a cafe has heard of Gordon Ramsay. But worse.

The librarian has never read a book before?!
I doubt that.

Wolf Hall is overrated. Why should they have read it. If the library has it they can look it up and lend it out. That's their job right?

It's like questioning why Gordon Ramsay doesn't eat Michelin starred meals for dinner every night.

I read loads and I’m an English teacher, and I’ve never heard of Wolf Hall. Didn’t know if it was the name of the book or the author! Haven’t heard of it as a TV show either.

Then you should be really embarrassed. Hilary Mantel, who died only last year, was one of our best contemporary writers and won the Booker twice for Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. If you were my child's teacher and you revealed that you had never heard of Mantel or Wolf Hall I'd be asking questions at the school.