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?

@Hadjab

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.

I only know it because I read it at school. If you are young and not a TV person, it could easily pass you by.

My parents are big on Shakespeare, otherwise I might not know AYLI.

libraries are closing everywhere.....why would they be investing in staff who are 'well read'. How could that even be proved at an interview?

its only a library OP!!

I do expect library staff & volunteers to be able to read.

I once asked for a travel guide to Sicily, & was given a guide to The Scilly Isles

Don't be such a snob. As has been stated it was likely not a librarian but even so why does it matter either way, there are millions of books and who cares if a librarian doesn't even read often? The job is to to make available the material, not to know the contents, and no I've never seen a job description (I've recruited for library staff) that stated "be able to recommend books". You have a very Hollywood idea of what library work actually entails.

When recruiting for library assistants then there are numerous other skills that come before being well read.

Some one that can multi task, has a strong work ethic, good time management skills and excellent people skills. When I worked as a Library Assistant, the only things they asked at the interview in regard to the books was that I could put them in order of the Dewey Decimal system!

Like any job you will pick it up as you go along so anyone working in a public library for a decent period of time probably would have heard of Margaret Atwood. They wouldn’t necessarily of read her though.

@Georgyporky

I do expect library staff & volunteers to be able to read.

I once asked for a travel guide to Sicily, & was given a guide to The Scilly Isles

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

@bendmeoverbackwards

Surely part of the job is recommending books to library users? I would expect that in either a library or a bookshop.

Not really. How do I know the person working in the library or bookshop has the same taste in reading materials that I do? They might love books written in the first person, or books where you hop back and forth across multiple timelines. They might love Mervyn Peake's novels, or think that Captain Corelli's Mandolin was a wonderful book. All personal opinions...

What librarians and other information professionals do do for us is catalogue and organise books and other materials in a way that allows us to find what we're looking for, help us use the technology and techniques that allow us to search and find accurately, care for and preserve the materials they look after and make sure that they're acquiring and stocking the materials their readers need/want. If they work in public libraries they might take an interest in wellbeing, or specialise in helping adult learners, or get involved with different local initiatives but that isn't what being a librarian is.

I’d expect a librarian to have at least heard of those classic texts even if they haven’t actually read them. It does show they aren’t really aware of what’s going on around them at the moment because Atwood recently wrote a follow-up to Handmaid. It was a pretty major publication so I’m not sure how she missed that if she works with books for a living! Saying that, I’m a teacher of English and have been for nearly two decades. I first came across Wordsworth’s There Was a Boy yesterday and haven’t read a fair few of the classics. I’ve still heard of them though!

Many library staff and volunteers are working in an environment that is not solely for library use - they are often 'hubs' for councils and their services so will act often to signpost people to the correct council dept or support, or deal with queries Re the council on site. Books just happen to be stored in council customer service environments.

@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.

But again, "suitable" for a role in a library will cover a few skillsets and a literary knowledge won't be at the top.

@Georgyporky

I do expect library staff & volunteers to be able to read.

I once asked for a travel guide to Sicily, & was given a guide to The Scilly Isles

Tired eyes made a mistake

God, I hope I never have to do a customer facing role again.

Or we could not gate keep both jobs (especially right now) and reading???

@person6743

Don't be such a snob. As has been stated it was likely not a librarian but even so why does it matter either way, there are millions of books and who cares if a librarian doesn't even read often? The job is to to make available the material, not to know the contents, and no I've never seen a job description (I've recruited for library staff) that stated "be able to recommend books". You have a very Hollywood idea of what library work actually entails.

Maybe so. I mourn the loss of our lovely librarian who my dd would love chatting to and getting recommendations for new books to read. There used to be a children’s specialist librarian too. Maybe I’m stuck in the past!

I don’t think that you are a snob, OP.

I hope that this is a joke, from a poster upthread:

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

@Squiggy

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.

I've come across so many teenagers who romanticise the idea of working in a bookshop or library because they like to read and don't seem to realise that the job is primarily customer service not sitting around reading all day.

In my own library days we regularly had problems with team members (particularly the younger volunteers) skiving off to read or trying to read at their post (which wasn't allowed because it made them seem unavailable to customers) so I can understand if she pointed that out to you and wanted to be sure you understood the job.

A library assistant who loves to read is like a chef who is a foodie - it can mean they have useful knowledge to add but you don't want them have such strong opinions they focus everything on their own tastes or constantly sampling the 'product'.

A lot of people in their twenties and thirties have read the classics, being well read is not confined to the older generation.

Most of my close friends who are readers would have read or at least heard of all of the books discussed in this thread. The ones who wouldn’t have are just generally not big readers which is ok too.

Not really. How do I know the person working in the library or bookshop has the same taste in reading materials that I do? They might love books written in the first person, or books where you hop back and forth across multiple timelines. They might love Mervyn Peake's novels, or think that Captain Corelli's Mandolin was a wonderful book. All personal opinions..

But that is the point. In an ideal world (not this one where libraries are facing massive cuts) a librarian would be able to recommend books to someone based on what that person likes, not what they like. And to do that they need a reasonable knowledge of books in general. I try to do that with my son even though his tastes aren't mine - and there are plenty of the "liked this? then you might like that" type websites and books.

When I was 11 a librarian recommended Over Sea Under Stone to me, and it introduced me to the whole Dark is Rising series which I have loved my whole life.

I’m shocked that you still have a library that’s open and staffed.

@Gliblet interesting thank you. I now wish I’d trained as a librarian years ago, I would have loved the cataloging and organising side.

I have never heard of The Handmaids Tale- a quick google suggests that it isn't a book I would like to read.

I have an English/Classics degree. I read very many books each week

I don't watch TV much

There is a much more pressing need for libraries to help build information literacy, skills around that are more valuable than giving book recommendations (and will result in having the ability to search for recommendations anyway).

As the saying goes, "teach a man to fish...."

I prefer The Blind Assasin.

At school in the 60s we were asked write an essay about something or other. I wrote one about a Welsh village and its postman who was telling all about the people on his round. At parents' evening my teacher, the head of English. was asking my mother if we were from Wales, I had written with such feeling about this village, he'd obviously never read Under Milk Wood!

@MoreCheeseVicar

They are librarians , not walking encyclopedias , we all have a clink in our knowledge somewhere

Yep this. I work in an academic library where there are thousands of books. I can't know them all. There's a library catalogue for that.