To be shocked the librarian was so poorly read?

[bendmeoverbackwards]

In the library recently reserving some books for dd. Librarian had not heard of A Handmaid’s Tale and did not know that As you Like It was written by Shakespeare.

These are not exactly obscure books!

AIBU?

I didn’t know there were so many volunteers in libraries these days.

@Freecuthbert

People shocked that the librarian has never heard of A Handmaid's Tale is hilarious, it's called The Handmaid's Tale. If it's such general knowledge, then why can't people get the title correct?

😂 They made our lovely librarians redundant ages ago. Even gave them a fake day for the last day so they turned up one day and got told "well, you are still paid till xx day and you can go in and get personal things from your locker, but that's it, no last day working together".

Tbh OP I am more surprised by you not knowing what happened to libraries than I am about a person not being aware of those books.

@IrmaFayLear

I may have a few chinks in my knowledge, but these are great gaping craters!

Who hasn't even heard of A Handmaid's Tale? Even if you haven't read it, it's general knowledge - and for someone working or even volunteering in a library not to have heard of a very famous book - well, that's quite astonishing.

Not really , not everyone has been fortunate to have had a decent education or been exposed to these books . It doesn't devalue their worth as a volunteer I find this thread rather distasteful

Having a go at a librarian for not knowing about The Handmaid's Tale is like having a go at a volunteer fireman for not knowing the storyline in every episode of London's Burning. They don't need to know every book in existence, that's what the computer records are for.

I happen to have heard of those books, like another poster i read approximately 100 books a year. I quite enjoy looking at those 50 books everyone should read articles because generally I’ve read most of them

But I don’t doubt for one second that if i worked in a library there would be gaps in my knowledge

@skirk64

Having a go at a librarian for not knowing about The Handmaid's Tale is like having a go at a volunteer fireman for not knowing the storyline in every episode of London's Burning. They don't need to know every book in existence, that's what the computer records are for.

Where did I say I expect them to have heard of every book??

I work in a library and I am training to be a librarian - just a few months left of my Masters. Most libraries are staffed by library assistants although in most public libraries they are called 'customer service assistants' - AKA they should provide good customer service but a knowledge of all books ever written is not necessary! It would be fabulous if local councils took libraries a bit more seriously but sadly they are quite low on the agenda.

@SteveArnottsCodeine

I’m on your side *@bendmeoverbackwards* but I can see I’m in the minority.

Also, for the poster who said their daughters English teacher hadn’t heard of Rebecca.... Sadly not surprised. I’m an English teacher and I’ve met some really stupid colleagues over the years. And English teachers tend to be the brighter sparks of the staff room... a PE teacher I was chatting to the other day genuinely wasn’t sure who the current Prime Minister was. Horrifying.

I know right? Some English teachers can't even use apostrophes correctly. Shocking.

Who hasn't even heard of A Handmaid's Tale?

I haven't. I have however heard of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

I used to work in a restaurant and someone wrote in to complain about me because I didn’t know what San Pellegrino was and I must be an awful idiot to work in a restaurant and not know the name of a very common water.

Of course I knew what it was. I just didn’t hear the man properly because he was mumbling.

Being a snob because someone doesn’t know something just makes that person look like an arse. Maybe she didn’t know what those books were, or maybe you were mumbling or got the title wrong yourself.

I always remember being in our little local library years ago and a friend who had done English Lit at university came up to me with her teenage daughter in tow, and said "You'll probably know this - who wrote Anne Frank's Diary??"

I think this is intellectual snobbery. It’s perfectly possible to work in a library without reading the sorts of books that you value. What books get borrowed in their millions? Not As You (Bloody) Like It!

Well hats off to the volunteers.

But even applications for voluntary jobs are massively over subscribed surely? I’m currently waiting to hear about a voluntary job in a museum. You can’t just walk into any job, voluntary or other, without being suitable.

I once went for an interview as a library assistant as a teenager and when asked why I was interested in working there I mentioned I loved reading.

The woman seemed surprised I considered that an asset for the position as after all I couldn’t read whilst working.

Hey I was told not to use apostrophes in my MA exam because there was a high chance the marker would think they had been used incorrectly.

@Squiggy did you get the job?

I did not

I’m 50, but had never heard of The Handmaid’s Tale until the tv adaptation. A straw poll of my similarly aged friends (from a wide range of cultures and socio-economic backgrounds) showed that only around a quarter of them had, and half of them only because it was a text they’d read at school. @bendmeoverbackwards approximately how old was the ‘librarian’? I would expect one in their 50s to have some passing knowledge of classics such as Rebecca - one in their 20s or 30s, not at all.

Where did I say I expect them to have heard of every book?

You just want them to know the books you know

@bendmeoverbackwards

Well hats off to the volunteers.

But even applications for voluntary jobs are massively over subscribed surely? I’m currently waiting to hear about a voluntary job in a museum. You can’t just walk into any job, voluntary or other, without being suitable.

Holding up the last of the council service before they sell the building for flats? It might be over subscribed with people seeking customer service experience I guess but there is no reason a big reader would like the role.

A Handmaid's Tale
How embarrassing OP given the thread.

Yes that’s fair comment @Ostara212

As a foreigner, who is well read in my native language (and not too badly in English literature now), I can assure you that you would only be able to have libraries staffed by people who were educated in the UK.

Your post made me think of my first job in the UK, when I had to asked a lady over the phone what her address was, and asked her to spell Leicestershire. She had a right go at me for not knowing how it was spelled and made me feel like incredibly small.

As others have said, a lot of librarians are volunteers rather than trained librarians. Library funds have been cut for years so they’ve had to scale back.

But The Handmaid's Tale? Come on. Only people who are interested in feminist literature (or who have watched the TV show) would know that

What absolute horseshit!!!