to think a school librarian should have heard of Wolf Hall and actually read books?

[Prevalence]

was chatting to a friend - who said the school librarian where he works doesn't read books, has never heard of Wolf Hall and cannot recommend any reading books to pupils as a result ... AIBU to think this is nonsense???

I read the majority of the classics I've read as a teen with endless time to read. I've read Jane Eyre but I've also read most of Sweet Valley High. I loved Catherine Cookson but also Jane Austen. I enjoy YA stuff now and get them from the library and can imagine sticking with them if I hadn't already gone beyond, as so many of them are so well written.

Sadly, there's not a chance this person will be a qualified librarian. Far too expensive for a school. Most likely they will just do the administrative tasks within the library

I am a literature graduate who spent 10 years working within a university library. Afterwards I did work temporarily in a school library, but none of the other local school 'librarians' I dealt with even had a degree, let alone any librarian qualifications.

This person being gossipped about will not, with almost complete certainty, be an actual qualified librarian.

She'll be someone on min wage or close to it working in a library, which is a very, very different thing.

Of course they weren't

I think you'll find Waterstones staff know a lot about books

Only when you leave off half the quote, as you did. As you're well aware, she can't recommend any books as she doesn't read any books.

Nobody is well aware of anything, TBH... OP spoke to her friend who told her what the librarian in his school said to him...

Quite why the librarian would have said that, as it sounds a bit like a shop worker saying he never bothered working out which coin was which when giving change, I don't know.

(tl; dr - pictures or it didn't happen)

To not have a good knowledge of youth fiction and books in general is bad but to not know wolf hall, specifically, as a school librarian isn't that big a deal.

Well maybe your friend should take it up with his employers instead of gossiping about a work colleague to a friend who then proceeds to slag her off online? Then they can sack this person they have employed, probably on minimum wage probably as an admin assistant who has no interest in books to sit in the library, and get them to find a qualified librarian to do the job instead. In sure that will be a piece of cake.

It suggests your knowledge of “books in general” isn’t very good.

I'd just like to have a librarian in my school rather than having to fit it around the rest of my job

You’ve never even met the person you’re complaining about and don’t seem to realise that there’s a difference between a qualified librarian and someone on a TA wage that works in a library.

I read loads and I’m an English teacher, and I’ve never heard of Wolf Hall. Didn’t know if it was the name of the book or the author! Haven’t heard of it as a TV show either.

Well done, you.

(Don't you think you should have done?)

If they're employed as an actual librarian then yes, that's really poor. Not essential to have read it obviously as not everyone likes historical literature, but to have not even heard of it is pretty bad!

Hopefully Anewdawnanewname is joking?!

I read loads and I’m an English teacher, and I’ve never heard of Wolf Hall. Didn’t know if it was the name of the book or the author! Haven’t heard of it as a TV show either.

Then you should be really embarrassed. Hilary Mantel, who died only last year, was one of our best contemporary writers and won the Booker twice for Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. If you were my child's teacher and you revealed that you had never heard of Mantel or Wolf Hall I'd be asking questions at the school.

The librarian has never read a book before?!
I doubt that.

Wolf Hall is overrated. Why should they have read it. If the library has it they can look it up and lend it out. That's their job right?

It's like questioning why Gordon Ramsay doesn't eat Michelin starred meals for dinner every night.

No, it's more like questioning if a chef in a cafe has heard of Gordon Ramsay. But worse.

You do realise that being a librarian doesn't have to be anything to do with reading. Librarians are qualified in information literacy, locating information, not reading all the information. They are there to help you find the book you need, not make book recommendations, unless you're in a cheesy 90s romcom.

Another person who’s missed the point that this isn’t about reading Wolf Hall, it’s about knowing it exists. And a school librarian is also about the culture of reading within school.

Embarrassing.

I really try not to be a literary snob- people can obviously read what they like- but I do find it a bit perturbing that an English teacher wouldn’t even have heard of Hilary Mantel. She’s one of the foremost British authors of the last 30 years! Perhaps the comment by Anewdawnanewname is a joke?

Wolf Hall won the Booker in 2009. Someone who is an NQT today is what, 22? Making them about 6 or 7 when it came out and doing A levels - and surviving a pandemic -when the third book came out in March 2020.

And if you aren't fussed about costume dramas, you may well not have paid attention to the dramatisation on the BBC when that came out when you were all of 13.

Another person who’s missed the point that this isn’t about reading Wolf Hall, it’s about knowing it exists. And a school librarian is also about the culture of reading within school.

No I haven't missed the point of the thread. You expect a librarian to know every book that's ever been written? What do you think they study? The postgraduate qualification a librarian studies doesn't even mention authors. The content of the source material is irrelevant.

A librarian's job is to locate the book you want, yes they source books but that'll likely be done via specified aggregated lists, (likely curriculum led) meaning they won't come into contact personally with every book they manage. They may not come from a literary background at all, many come from computer science backgrounds these days.