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?

[quote 3totheright4totheleft]@Crinkle77 are you seriously suggesting that if the OP had said The Handmaid's Tale instead of A Handmaid's Tale this would have made all the difference to the library assistant recognising the title?
I mean COME ON.[/quote]
No but perhaps the person was new? Who knows? There could be a myriad of reasons why they haven't heard of this title.

@LolaSmiles But all the specialisms you mention are centred around the written and spoken word in some way.
I would be surprised if a professional in any of those fields hasn't even heard of major world authors whose works are considered classics. They wouldn't need to like them, or have read them, but to not have heard of them...it would be like someone working in a science-related job not having heard of, say, photosynthesis and then saying "well I'm not a biologist, I only know about my specialism". Yes they could probably still do their job reasonably well, but it's not a great look is it?

Not really , not everyone has been fortunate to have had a decent education or been exposed to these books

Well said.

^The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly^

@LolaSmiles - I take your point that we all have gaps. I think I mentioned earlier up that I might be surprised if someone hadn’t heard of such-and-such important figure, but it’s when someone has numerous gaps or really major ones (e.g. Obama example before!) that you start to think they aren’t very switched on. Not having heard of a minor Victorian novelist for an expert in Old English is one thing, but if that expert hadn’t heard of Jane Austen or Chaucer I’d wonder how on earth they’d managed to get where they were without a general awareness of English literature outside their specialist field.

Your classroom comment reminds me of when I did a Tefl course in Spain. I was delivering a practice class to some students and I told them the past participle of a particular verb was always irregular - I think it may have been learn. A student immediately strode up, finger pointing at a dictionary entry to show how wrong I was. ‘Learned’ in black and white! Our instructor used it as a learning point - there will always be a student waiting to pounce on any mistake.

Don't shame someone for not knowing something. Whether they're a genius or a begger on the streets.

@JungleIsMassive

Don't shame someone for not knowing something. Whether they're a genius or a begger on the streets.

Doesn't Shaky say something along these lines...

I have no idea who shaky is... Or if they said it! Don't shame me

Anyone who doesn't know that Shakespeare wrote As you Like it shouldn't be paid to work anywhere near books!!!!! My granddaughter had read 3 plays of his plays - all be it, in a reduced form- by the time she was 9 and could relay the stories and the message behind them to you in great detail.

@quizqueen

Anyone who doesn't know that Shakespeare wrote As you Like it shouldn't be paid to work anywhere near books!!!!! My granddaughter had read 3 plays of his plays - all be it, in a reduced form- by the time she was 9 and could relay the stories and the message behind them to you in great detail.

What an impressive young girl. Good on her. Doesn't mean everyone has the same advantage in life though.

And I didn't know he wrote it and I've read it. I actually have a very very old copy of the book. If I was asked I would have said I didn't know. But now I know it seems obvious. That's the thing about knowing things. They are obvious once you know them.

She may be a fantastic librarian in other ways.

@GirlCrush

and Shakespeare is dull.....has it been removed from the gcse curriculum yet?

As You Like It is hilarious!

Pre-covid, I volunteered for a few months in a council library, which is now entirely run by volunteers. I have heard of The Handmaid's Tale and AYLI, but am definitely not familiar with all the classics.

Other volunteers were mainly sixth formers and retirees doing it for a few hours a week. Nobody had any qualifications in literature or librarianship. Most of the role was putting things back on shelves, scanning books, or helping people with computers/photocopiers/etc. There's not much chance to learn about literature on the job.

I did choose to volunteer in the library because I like books and think that everyone should have free access to them, but that didn't suddenly make me an expert.

ChoChoCrazyCat
I do see what you mean, but if someone has no interest in a topic and they aren't studying an area then why would they seek them out?

I don't know much about art and art history. I can probably recall Lowry and a couple of artists from school, and Van Gough, or Monet because I sometimes go to galleries with DH, but there's countless other popular artists who I'd have nothing more than a recollection of, or have heard in passing. There's no doubt that some people would think as an educated professional surely I would know them, but why would I when it's not something I have an interest in?

YouShouldSeeMyNewHouse
You're quite right about numerous gaps. One thing I regularly tell trainees is the importance of reading up and reading around a subject.

I think the difference between my position and some on this thread is that I don't judge someone intelligence or look down on someone for not knowing something that I happen to know, nor do I have a list in my head of people/texts I think people should know.

If I asked my department to list the 10 texts they think every English teacher should have read, I'd get 10 different answers. Who am I, or anyone else for that matter, to decide that my 10 must have texts are better than someone else's?

I would be pretty shocked if a librarian hadn’t heard of those books. I assumed all libraries have a librarian who knows about literature. Otherwise what’s the point? I used to be a school librarian.
It’s a sad state of affairs if libraries are now staffed by people with no interest or knowledge of books.

I work as a Library Assistant and I have an English degree, but in Public Libraries it's not actually a requirement of the job to hold a degree or library qualification. I was shocked early on when some of my colleagues admitted to me they don't actually read
I think YANBU as I have found it really useful in my work to have a decent knowledge of books and literature. We still have lots of customers who are keen readers despite all the doom and gloom saying that physical books are on the way out etc. It makes me really sad when I think about how diminished libraries are really and I feel like I should have been born earlier. I think about going into Archives or something else because I'm fed up with that. But it is still an nice job compared to many others and I'm just glad to have kept my job in a pandemic.

Well, I hope I’m not coming across as judging people’s intelligence. I don’t think this has much to do with intelligence.

I will admit to ‘judging’ someone who is intelligent and has had decent educational opportunities but isn’t interested in anything, although it’s the same kind of judgement as deciding someone is lacking in the sense of humour department or is too fussy. More seriously, I certainly judge society as a whole for being anti-intellectual and anti-expert. I think this has serious implications for all of us.

As far as showing off about knowledge goes, I actually think many people hide what they know and are interested in. I’m part of a book group where most members - and certainly all the men - have at one point or another said that one of the things they enjoy most is being able to talk about books without being mocked for it or feeling pretentious!

@YouShouldSeeMyNewHouse

Well, I hope I’m not coming across as judging people’s intelligence. I don’t think this has much to do with intelligence.

I will admit to ‘judging’ someone who is intelligent and has had decent educational opportunities but isn’t interested in anything, although it’s the same kind of judgement as deciding someone is lacking in the sense of humour department or is too fussy. More seriously, I certainly judge society as a whole for being anti-intellectual and anti-expert. I think this has serious implications for all of us.

As far as showing off about knowledge goes, I actually think many people hide what they know and are interested in. I’m part of a book group where most members - and certainly all the men - have at one point or another said that one of the things they enjoy most is being able to talk about books without being mocked for it or feeling pretentious!

I agree with all of this.

YouShouldSeeMyNewHouse
I think we probably agree on many things, especially concerns about growing anti-intellectualism.
I think you're right that many people who are well-read with a lot of interests don't tend to draw attention to it, not out of deliberately downplaying, but because they tend to share their knowledge when relevant. These people also tend not to be disparaging if others don't know something.

I just don't like seeing adults do the very thing we tell our students not to: mock or belittle others for not knowing something. Though they claim it isn't mockery, often the comments are laced with it.

It's not defensive to take a dislike to people looking down on others for not having an identical knowledge base, which is exactly what "I can't believe someone didn't know who wrote this book / I can't believe someone hasn't heard of this album" etc is.

You've really missed the point. The phrase "looking down" comes over as decidely defensive - or at least, you seem to be reacting to the OP in a very specific way that I certainly didn't read in the first post.

I've not missed the point at all. From the OP being shocked at someone didn't know something she thinks they should, we've had other posters joining in with other "I can't believe someone didn't know..."
Basically everyone has their own little list of what they think others should know that tends to overlap with knowledge they possess.

Some people then claim they're surprised or can't believe others might have a knowledge bank that's different to their own, whilst others find it depressing that well-educated individuals might not recall everything that the judgemental folk think is essential, or that not knowing particular authors (again deemed important by those critiquing) means they must lack intellectual curiosity.
Being knowledgeable in areas of academic specialism and personal interest is easily dismissed because people should know whatever is on some random person's arbitrary list.

@CovidCorvid

One of my friends is a librarian. No offence to her but I don't she's exactly "literary". But that wasn't a requirement of the job.

Her role is to book books out, log books back in, sort out reservations, computer booking, give some computer advice to people struggling to log on, be able to direct people to different sections of the library.....I'm sure other stuff as well but she's not there to give book reviews or make recommendations of other stuff to read. If she can then that's a bonus and I'm sure in some genres she probably can.

But even though her job title may be librarian (I'm not sure, maybe it's assistant but there's nobody more senior than her) she isn't a professional librarian like they used to be. She doesn't have an English Lit a level or degree.

She won't be a qualified librarian without a degree and a post grad qualification/chartership. She's probably a senior library assistant? But in the university library I worked in, the senior library assistants were graduates too.

The point is if someone works in a museum with dinosaur exhibits for example and a member of the public asks about an exhibit , the reply ‘I don’t know much about dinosaurs and I’ve never heard of a Tyrannosaurus Rex’ might be greeted with incredulity . You do expect the person working in a specialist area to know about what they’re dealing with. That’s not snobbery.

Reading the comments above, I think libraries are now seen as information centres rather than places to give access to books as they used to be. That’s the problem. The focus is on ‘information management’ , not actually knowing anything about literature. So proficiency in IT etc is seen as more important. I think that’s a great shame. Says it all about the way things are going.

The point is if someone works in a museum with dinosaur exhibits for example and a member of the public asks about an exhibit , the reply ‘I don’t know much about dinosaurs and I’ve never heard of a Tyrannosaurus Rex’ might be greeted with incredulity . You do expect the person working in a specialist area to know about what they’re dealing with. That’s not snobbery.
It depends on the role and whether the role is a specialist role.

If they are employed to be an expert or to coordinate elements of the exhibition, or as part of the museum education team, then you're right. They should have a reasonable knowledge, and the expected knowledge would increase based on their seniority and how specialist the post is.
If they are employed as a general museum steward to help guide visitors round an exhibition and check tickets then why would they be expected to know about all topics the museum has exhibitions on?

To those of you who work in/have worked in public libraries, is the job of Library Assistant one you would recommend? I'm considering applying for a 4 hours a week Saturday role (£9.55 an hour for those interested in salary) at my local library.

I loved it and was very good at it, but the reason I am working in IT rather than libraries is because I need to keep a roof over my head, and working as a library assistant, I could barely live above subsistence level. However, it's because of training available to me in academic libraries that I first got a taste of Unix and programming and I'm where I am now. I did spend a happy weekend in lockdown reshelving all my own fiction books, though, and I still organise lots of online info for colleagues and provide them with lots of info and bits of knowledge, so I still have the spirit of libraries within me.

If I had time to volunteer for it, I would, but while I have to rely on working to feed and house me, no.