Why I am Thankful for Libraries
Many of you may know that I am passionate about several things, and libraries are one of them. As a professional librarian and lifelong library lover, I am constantly advocating for libraries and librarians – hoping to inspire more and more students and patrons to take advantage of the resources their library has to offer as well as supporting library staff in the incredible work that they do. Sometimes, though, it can be easy to focus on the trees rather than taking a moment to appreciate the entire forest. Last week, as Thanksgiving kicked off this year’s period of seasonal reflection, I found myself pondering a very specific question – why am I thankful for libraries? It’s a compelling and a complex question, but one that I am happy to answer. Libraries have provided not only hours upon hours of personal enjoyment and enrichment, but also a meaningful and rewarding profession. Allow me to explore what libraries have meant to me in three stages – as a child, as a student, and as a library employee.
Some of my earliest and best memories revolve around taking a trip to our local public library with my mother, being able to sit down and go through piles of books – books that were new to me and filled with new, unfamiliar, and exciting stories. I imagine that anyone who loves books and libraries can relate to these memories and can easily recall their own, and I am thankful that libraries are able to continue providing an environment where many others, the world over, can create and share these experiences for themselves. You can borrow a book, as the saying goes, but you get to keep the ideas, and the same goes for the unique and special experiences that can happen in and around libraries. Libraries are magical places, and the only decision required is the decision to explore. Taking advantage of all that libraries have to offer, especially from a young age, can only serve to create a special place for libraries in our hearts and minds, establishing a relationship that can and will provide compelling value later on. I am thankful that library staff – as well as parents, grandparents, families, and teachers – remain dedicated to making this possible each and every day.
For students, whether K-12, college, or beyond, libraries and library staff are able to provide a plethora of important and incredibly helpful services and resources. Working in an academic library I have the opportunity to witness this firsthand. Library support for students is not only crucial in terms of access – providing databases, subscriptions, or other pathways to content needed for research or to complete assignments – but also for connections, bringing together both information and the unique knowledge and experience of library staff. I will never forget working with a subject librarian in college and discovering a new (to me) database of source material for research simply because she knew where to look and had specific suggestions based on my topic and interests. In these – and many – situations, the most important resources in the library are not the collection, nor the databases, nor any other body of content or tools available through the library, but are instead the library staff themselves. I am thankful that library staff and education administrators continue to recognize the importance of the extraordinary support that libraries and the people who work there are able to provide for students. Quite simply, receiving much-needed support from the library at the right time can be life-changing. It is up to us to make sure everyone we meet understands this potential and is encouraged to take advantage of it.
Finally, working in libraries I am blessed with the opportunity to pursue a meaningful and rewarding profession. For me, librarianship is meaningful and rewarding both because of all the things we have highlighted already, as well as the pleasure of working with and for library workers to promote the success of libraries, library staff, and the profession itself. I am passionate about supporting the work of library staff and library advocacy so that libraries can continue to provide these essential, transformational benefits for their communities. Working in libraries, and specifically in an academic library, I have also been able to learn more about the inner workings of higher education, community relations, nonprofit administration, and other areas than would have been possible in many other professions. Libraries are alive and well, and library staff continue to bring selfless dedication to their work, as the events of this past year have uniquely demonstrated. Ultimately, I am thankful to work in a field that I am passionate about, a profession that is active, creative, and dedicated, and in an environment that affords great opportunity for learning, for variety, and for helping others succeed.
Libraries are dynamic and powerful places, and our job as librarians is to help those who come to us harness this power for themselves and their personal, educational, or professional goals. Libraries are about creating “opportunity for individuals and progress for communities.”* Please join me in celebrating these wonderful places and the people who have made it their mission to serve in them.
Libraries and librarians exist as agents of change, able to facilitate discovery, growth, and opportunity.
We must only choose to explore.
*From ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report, 2016, p. 5.