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???

Skills
You'll need to have:
• customer service and interpersonal skills with the ability to interact with a range of people from the local community
• strong IT skills and understanding of digital applications
• excellent communication skills
• research skills
• skills in using a range of social media and professional networking channels such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn
• the ability to work as part of a team but also on your own initiative
• a flexible approach to work
• the ability to prioritise your work and meet deadlines
• good presentation skills
• a meticulous approach to work
• the ability to think logically
• organisational and self-management skills
• the ability to find creative solutions to problems
• an appreciation of the pressures and demands or working in a public library
• the ability to lead and motivate others (for more senior roles).

In case anyone is actually interested, below is a list of the official skills a librarian needs, literary snob is not on there as far as I can see.

It's a professional job, not a cute little lifestyle where they sit on the desk reading all day. And IT IS NOT to make reading recommendations.

It is a profession, and should be respected as such.

@bookworm14 Even if the teacher hasn’t read Wolf Hall surely they need to be able to discuss contemporary authors with the students? If they’re an English teacher, particularly at A level, it’s kind of part of the job I would think? And not just YA books either.

Of course not. But the assumption that school librarian appeared to be making is that teenagers shouldn’t be expected to read anything outside of YA, much of which is literary drivel, highly formulaic and completely unchallenging, as well as ever more porn-soaked.
Teenagers absolutely should be heading towards reading adult novels. Instead we end up with adults incapable of dealing with anything challenging or insightful.
i was reading everything from Chalet School books to Stephen King when I was a teen. DD just reads endless bollocks about girls with anxiety or schizophrenia.

I’m not respecting any school or general librarian who hasn’t heard of Wolf Hall. Frankly, they don’t deserve my respect.

I'm just disappointed that no one has suggested that the main role of a school librarian is to aid in the fight against vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness.

(Don't think a school librarian particularly needs to know a specific book, but deeply depressed if they don't love reading)

Good list. 😃 So none?

You don't seem to know what school librarians are meant to do yourself

Tyish is right on one way that a librarian's job is to disseminate and organise information. That's what is included in the qulaifying course and uou wouldn't have to be a keen reader in order to get on that course. As a profession its quite diverse, would you expect an NHS librarian to have read Wolf Hall? A law librarian? A university librarian when a lot of university libraries don't contain any fiction.

However as a fully qualified, chartered school librarian (there are still some of us out there) it is different in school libraries. This is an sector where a large part of the job is to promote reading for pleasure. I'm not horrified that this person who works in a library but is highly unlikely to be a librarian has not read Wolf Hall. I wouldn't expect that to be in a school library unless they have a sixth form. I haven't read it, though I have heard of it and atock it in our sixth form library. I am a little concerned that they read nothing at all, if this is indeed true, and lack the knowledge of their book stock to be able to recommend books to the children they serve.

But that’s the point @Becomingolder - you have heard of it.

And honestly, who becomes a librarian if they don’t care about books? I would have thought there are far more lucrative things you could do with your skills otherwise. And if I’m being really blunt, it sounds like a job that could be done by AI if there is no human element in it.

I would think that schools should
Defund almost everything sport or leisure or trip related for a proper library and librarian.

@pollyhemlock Indeed!

AI can not move and stock books and appropriately organise them. Large industrial machines that cost a fortune could, but are too expensive and large.
This person is unlikely to be a qualified librarian. They are probably someone organised with admin skills, who wants a term time job. There are very few of those.

I agree that it is a poor show. Hilary Mantel isn't some unknown author.

So true. Though I seem to remember that the library run by Rupert Giles consisted entirely of books on the occult and supernatural. Which probably wouldn’t be considered appropriate by Ofsted.

Principal Snyder agreed with you. “Just how is ‘Blood Rites and Sacrifices’ appropriate material for a public school library? The Chess Club branching out?”

whispers Anyone else not heard of Wolf Hall? Asking for a friend

Sadly, not as rare as you'd think? Whilst working as a TA in a secondary school (but have an English Literature degree) it gradually dawned on me that the English teacher taking the lesson didn't know there were 3 published Bronte sisters.

I had a quiet word with them after the lesson and apparently they had never heard of Anne Bronte! How? How???

Wasn’t Principal Snyder killed by a giant snake? Shows what happens if you try to censor students’ reading material.

Yep, when the mayor ascended. But at least our heroes saved the books from being burned when MOO got involved...

I'm surprised people haven't heard of Wolf Hall,because you couldn't get away from it or the TV adaptation at one point. I have actively chosen not yo read it, because I had enough of all the bloody Thomases at A-level and degree.

No one will have read everything, though. What I would like from someone working in a school library is where to look things up. There are websites where you can get recommendations for books that are similar, so even if you don't know, you can look it up. We had a printed out binding of something like that back in my library days, too, so it's not a new idea.

I'd also expect someone working in a library to keep half an eye on book reviews and best seller lists. You can't read everything, but you can get a fair idea of what everyone else is reading, and what some people think of those books.

Oh god, I actually am genuine and feeling like I’ve had some sort of stroke where I’ve forgotten something really important 😂 Don’t worry, I don’t teach A level lit and my degree is in language and not literature.

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.

This is, hands down, my favourite Mumsnet comment ever. I'd quite like it framed on my wall.

I hope you don't teach @Pluvia's children!

Hmm I'm pretty sure

I hope you don't teach Pluvia's children!

Too right! If I had children of school age I'd want them stretched and encouraged to try reading all kinds of things, not just handed dreadful YF books. That would be like bringing a child up on a diet of fast food.

At 16 I was reading the English and foreign classics (in translation) voluntarily, and being inspired by my English teacher and a couple of librarians in my local library who had a love of books to range ever further. I'm immensely grateful to them. Good literature has been a cornerstone of my life, a consolation and an inspiration, a gateway to wider arts and culture, history and understanding of other societies and ways of thinking. Incurious adults shouldn't be teaching.