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?

And what if you didn't like "Over Sea Under Stone"? Then it wouldn't have introduced you to a series of books.
Of course. Nobody is going to have every recommendation they make hit the target. But you're not going to have any hit the target if you don't make any. I was also recommended Eagle of the Ninth, it didn't rock my boat at all, but some other child may have developed into the next Mary Beard .

NinaMimi Yes, I think it comes from their inferiority complex because you have a qualification in something they don't, so they have to find a way to undermine you. I think I've only ever had this from men.

@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.

This. We all have chinks, but these are the kind of gaps a small country could fall through.

Our local library is entirely volunteer run. Almost entirely by old ladies who send their time competitively discussing their latest foreign holidays and sitting in the way of whatever shelf you want to get to.

The council run libraries are being run into the ground. Many have already been closed. Library assistant jobs are regularly advertised but you have to be prepared to travel across the area and able to work to a two week rota, for minimum wage of course.

The libraries that are staying open are the ones able to rent out space to paying groups or with an extremely vulnerable population. Their primary purpose is now not lending books.

@ChoChoCrazyCat I am a writer who worked in bookshops for years. I’m not a huge Shakespeare fan. I love Macbeth and I know a fair few plays but not all of them. I don’t know some of his works. Not everyone has to know every single Shakespeare play. There are a lot of other amazing works out there. The librarian may have a particular interest, I know a lot of booksellers who were hired because of niche interests and understanding of books, which was sometimes more important than knowing all the same ones that everyone else knows. There are other classics I deem more important than Shakespeare that others likely haven’t heard of.

But I presume, without looking, you can name all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays and 154 of his sonnets?

And when I worked in a library I earned about £7.50 an hour. And all the library assistants in my library had degrees (though not necessarily in English literature with a depth study on Margaret Attwood).

You'd be surprised how little library staff earn.

[quote ChoChoCrazyCat]@adeleh It's not just in this country...I think education standards have fallen in most of Europe, not to mention the USA. I had an ex who couldn't name the capital of Italy or a single artist, not even someone like da Vinci or Picasso. He said he just wasn't into art. [/quote]
I'm sure you're right and education standards have fallen quite widely. But there is a real attitude in the UK that it's 'uncool', 'snobby', 'posh' to show that you're interested in learning and culture. It drives me up the wall. And it certainly isn't prevalent in a nation like France, where it's taken for granted that people are widely interested in literature and philosophy.

Even the most well read person can have gaps in their knowledge. When I was preparing for university interviews to study Eng Lit I was told not to mention Dickens because he'd written so many books they were bound to mention one I'd never even heard of. I can't tell from your snapshot if the librarian was absolutely ignorant or just had a bit of a gap in her knowledge.

I've read The Handmaid's Tale but have never watched the TV adaptations because I don't have a TV. You can miss the furore over these things.

If it was a public library, if it was a small branch library, it's likely it was a volunteer, not a paid member of library staff at all, and it's very unlikely to have qualified librarians in branch libraries (can you tell I'm a librarian, albeit not in a public library).

Their job is to help you circulate the book stock I'm afraid, and possibly do reading sessions with young children, not to recommend stock to you.

Well hats off to the volunteers

Thank you, OP

But even applications for voluntary jobs are massively over subscribed surely?

IME it depends on the area and the library; our own is massively supported, but we're constantly being asked to help out at neighbouring ones where they can't get people for love nor money

Fortunately not all volunteers are ignorant; some of us are actually very well read, but yes it does make a difference whether someone's been properly trained or not

over time you would see hundreds of books and absorb information?
You actually think information is absorbed by osmosis, simply by being in the presence of books?
It's an interesting theory, certainly. I'll put it to the test instead of prodding ds1 to revise for GCSEs.

@Fairyliz

Surely if you are a volunteer at a library rather than say at a cats home it’s because you like books, so you would have heard of these? Even if you volunteered to go somewhere warm and dry, over time you would see hundreds of books and absorb information? I’m often surprised at how stupid the general population is.

There could be lots of reasons why someone volunteers at a library. They serve many functions, not all to do with knowing about perceived popular/classic books.

The only reason I've heard of Eagle of the Ninth is because it was a great favourite of my husband's and he bought it for ds.

Does that make me an ignoramus too?

When you work in a library it's not knowledge that matters, it's knowing where to find things. Having good Google search skills is the most important thing. If you put The or A handmaid's tale onto Google it comes up with a million hits before you've even pressed enter so you don't need great search skills for that. But on occasion people didn't know the name of book or author and just had a rough idea of its content, so you had to do some judicious googling to see if you could find the book they were talking about.

TBH OP

You come across as the type of person who use to walk into the bookshop I worked in and say I saw a book advertised on the TV this morning it has a green cover and then look at me as though I should know what you were talking about

@bendmeoverbackwards

your comparison with sales assistant knowing their stock

I worked for a time in Sainsburys, on one occasion I was berated by a customer whilst on the shop floor for not knowing whether we stocked a particular item. Your average superstore stocks in excess of 40, 000 lines. Would you seriously expect a shop worker to know 40,000 individual items.
If not why would you expect someone working in a library to know every book
@Fairyliz not knowing about a specific book does not make you stupid

This OP reminds me of those “great book lists” that people post on Facebook and crow about how they’ve read so many on that list.

But the list tends to be quite a narrow selection of western boring literature. I’m well read, I read shit loads. I just don’t read what apparently I “should” do, to be deemed well read. It’s like Michael Gove and his silly insistence on certain books on the national curriculum.

there is a real attitude in the UK that it's 'uncool', 'snobby', 'posh' to show that you're interested in learning and culture

I don't think there is. It's just ok not to be interested in things that certain people think you should be interested in like opera or theatre. People confuse being interested in something with intelligence.

@youshallnotpass9

TBH OP

You come across as the type of person who use to walk into the bookshop I worked in and say I saw a book advertised on the TV this morning it has a green cover and then look at me as though I should know what you were talking about

Eh? How do you extrapolate that? If I wanted a book in a library or bookshop I would know title and the author.

Our library was closed but moved to a nearby CIC which is a multi purpose centre with cafe. Volunteers are there 6 hours a week but until covid you could return and take out books when the centre was open. People were upset about losing the librarians. But as the centre is open every day with sports activities, a lovely park, play area, skate park it's become a vibrant community centre.

And it certainly isn't prevalent in a nation like France, where it's taken for granted that people are widely interested in literature and philosophy

So I am glad I don't live in France as I am more interested in geography and history.

If I wanted a book in a library or bookshop I would know title and the author

but people don't. Exactly as the OP says, they hear something mentioned on the TV, or read about it in the paper, but then they forget the name and the title but go into the library or bookshop looking for it. It's amazing how often the staff do work it out and can order it in, or it's on the shelf.

Totally unsurprised. When I finished uni I joined a local council library only to find it was rammed with pulp fiction. Depressing but I guess that’s what’s popular

I meant a pp not the OP

@ChoChoCrazyCat

Some of you are spectacularly missing the point. It isn't about knowing every single book or or having encyclopaedic knowledge, or whether you're a "proper" librarian or someone on minimum wage. Everyone should have at least a rudimentary knowledge of their country's history and culture, surely. To be British (presuming this staff member was?) and to not have even have HEARD of a work by Shakespeare is quite shocking. You don't need to be "into" Shakespeare or even literature, it should be general knowledge! Even I know this stuff and I wasn't born here, and English isn't my first language.

Perhaps it's a reflection of the state of education? Or the growing anti intellectualism, where we have to pretend that ignorance is "equal" to knowledge, so as not to be branded a "snob". And yes, I would expect someone working in a library to have heard of at least the classics!

Or maybe some people just aren't that interested in certain things?

Shocking, I know.