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?

@QwertyGirly

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.

This is not true. Our local library has a couple of assistants who are definitely not native English speakers - think one is Italian and one is Polish.

I'd say it's less of a line and more of a squiggle:
For instance mine would go:
Read Stoker, Hugo, Hardy, Laurence and Bronte, Orwell, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Orwell, Martin, Ovid and many children's authors.
Vaguely know by name and attempted read: Conrad, Johnson, Dante, More, Woolf.
No idea: I'm sure there are many.

But the Op if written by me could be. I can't believe the librarian hadn't heard of Tamburlaine and The Iron King. Or Nesbitt and Patrick Rothfuss.
Important in my mind. Probably as famous as hmt at certain times. (Like when five children and it was on telly).
I'd have more sympathy with OP if it was Macbeth and Oliver Twist.

I recently helped interview for an English teacher post. Their wide ranging ideas of what constituted ‘good’ literature was interesting but not identical
I rather like those questions. Other interesting questions include asking candidates if they teach any book to a particular year group, what would it be and why?
Curriculum design meetings about what will be taught in future years are regularly heated in my experience.

Mind you, nothing was worse than dd's English teacher saying she hadn't heard of Rebecca shock

Was this a primary or secondary teacher... if primary this wouldn’t surprise me.

Our librarians in HK. aren't hired to read, they're too busy performing library duties, (tidying, retrieving reserved books, re-stocking, manning the front desk etc.). They couldn't recommend books to save their lives, although I must say the public library system has suddenly gone on a hell of a shopping spree with brand new books the likes of which aren't even available anywhere here apart from Book Depository.

Do you mean Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm?
Because the full title would help immensely in this case.

I have written 1000s of books since I learned to read at 3. I have only ever read the Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and decided that I didn't like her as a writer. Have tried again and again to read her, but no... And I have never seen The Handmaid's Tale. I know the story but didn't see the need to watch either the film or the series. And I do know a couple of librarians who are the same. We know who wrote the stuff but we don't have to read it.

Unless you mean the Gothic Rebecca.
In which case I'd like to know if anybody has read it and thinks it's good as it sounds interesting.
And yes. I'm a teacher and am not familiar with it.

@Bertiebiscuit Maybe because they are retired and have time to spare and genuinely want to contribute to their community?
Many people here seem to be missing the point that the “librarian” in OP’s post was probably a volunteer, or junior staff, without which, after the massive public library spending cuts in this country, we simply wouldn’t have any public library service at the moment.
And no, they often aren’t widely read, but the many, many volunteers are willing to perform a service for free for their local community.
And god knows the volunteers at my local library drive me mad (anyone remember the charity shop ladies from the League of Gentlemen?) but without these people you would not have libraries! And then this thread wouldn’t even exist.

@SunnydaleClassProtector99

Unless you mean the Gothic Rebecca. In which case I'd like to know if anybody has read it and thinks it's good as it sounds interesting. And yes. I'm a teacher and am not familiar with it.

There's an adaptation on Netflix now and an old film.

and a very well done spoof

I would say that they are likely to be unqualified, so a Library Assistant or worse a volunteer. As a qualified Librarian myself, I agree with GravityFalls that qualified information professionals are few and far between in public libraries alas. Councils have a statutory obligation to have library services but there is scant resource or support for them, let alone to have properly paid, qualified staff, even though the role they can play (not just loaning books) to support society, is invaluable. But sadly things like libraries are not valued by politicians, particularly those on the Right!

I could go on all night but will leave it there....

I'm not shocked, it's part of a general dumbing down of almost everything. Perhaps when a nurse says something like 'what's a wart?' someone, somewhere might take notice. Bring on A I for a sensible conversation. It's not snobbish to expect reasonable standards.

I have worked in academic and local authority libraries for years and have never been asked for "As You Like It" . You belong to a tiny minority of library customers.
Most customers ask for books by authors such as Anna Jacobs or Karen Slaughter or Liz Pichon. I would imagine the person you spoke could reel off a dozen new stock items that you never heard of, but I doubt she would hold it against you.
She did her job (probably for minimum wage) and looked for the books you wanted for your daughter, stop.
Grasp your judgey pants firmly and raise them up over your head, at speed.
Oh, and YABU!

Thank you. I'd prefer to read it first though. Is it good.iyo?

I may have to concede on AYLI - maybe it’s less well known than I’d thought. I’m starting to doubt anything I’d previously considered common knowledge after this thread!

However, I will say that I came on here not to reply on that particular play (or thmt), but because I thought the snob accusations against the op were unfair and ridiculous, and as I said far upthread I’ve seen applied to far more basic types of knowledge than Shakespeare’s second (or third) tier plays. I also disagreed with some posters that it’s unreasonable to expect people will know a certain level of foundational knowledge, either in life or in their field - which is where I thought your argument about lists was headed. The whole ‘he’s never heard of the solar system, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a work-leading mathematician’ school of thought.

But, yes, AYLI - completely lost my bearings on that now.

World-leading.

Knowing about the solar system and ayli are world's apart when it comes to general knowledge.

@KaptainKaveman

I adore Shakespeare and have always preferred reading it to seeing it performed. This is especially true of the histories and problem plays.

For all those who are scathing about him, you will be pleased to hear about the proposed cuts to all humanities, arts and MFL degree courses (by up to 50%) which means access to and knowledge of The Bard will diminish at a rapid rate. .

Presumably to redirect funds to the hallowed turf of STEM? They won’t be satisfied until we all communicate in binary code and see rainbows as some display of physics rather than a thing of beauty.

I would have known the Shakespeare as was force fed it at school (never was keen). The Handmaids tale I would not have known as have not read it or watched the TV series. Even if a TV series many may not know it was from a book. I'm an avid reader but may not know many books that could be asked for in a library. Mind you I am the sort of person that likes to know what they are "selling" so any spare time would be spent perusing the shelves to see what was there.

Yes, they are! Was illustrating a line of argumentation that pops up on this site all the time rather than commenting on ayli with that example - thought I’d made clear I was withdrawing from that particular strand of the thread. There was a thread on here recently about literacy in universities where some posters made precisely the point that we shouldn’t expect scientists to have a decent grasp of spag. The usual comments on snobbery came up there and were in my mind when I initially started posting here.

It depends on what your definition of 'reasonable grasp of spag' is.
Imo fronted adverbials naming need not apply.

My local library is more of an internet cafe and council customer service building rather than traditional idea of a library.
Yes there are books, but it's more about computer assistance and other such like.

Useful places but in a different way.

So Rebecca. Anyone know how it compares to Wuthering heights or Dracula?

SunnydaleClassProtector99
I can't stand the book, but to be up front I don't particularly like DuMaurier as an author and it's not a style of literature that I enjoy.

YouShouldSeeMyNewHouse
It's good to question our views. Mine changed on a couple of occasions.
The main change was when I went into teaching, I realised how much knowledge I take for granted, and how much exposure to knowledge I had taken for granted. It's very easy to assume something is basic general knowledge if everyone around you holds that knowledge.

I also saw the smug and snide behaviour of some students towards those who didn't know something and/or made mistakes. One thing that stood out to me was the ones mocking, side eyeing, belittling, and saying "as if you don't know..." were very rarely the the most intelligent or knowledgeable students in the class.
It made me think of adults I'd met and worked with over the years, and caused me to realise the same is generally true of adults. The only difference is that if you comment on this to adults who display that attitude, they quickly claim that everyone hates them for being so clever, everyone dislikes people knowing things, everyone hates general knowledge, people can't stand anyone who reads, how depressing that people don't value knowledge and learning, and so on with the poor me I'm a persecuted intellectual act.

That's a shame. Got a bit excited about an undiscovered gothic classic. I hate starting books I won't finish so might give it a miss if noone else thinks it's worth reading (just naming!)
Out of interest what about the style do you dislike?