Revolting librarians > The sensuous librarian
Revolting librarians > The sensuous librarian
I don't think I have ever met one, have you?
When I was a kid, I was brainwashed into believing that all librarians had silver hair, wore half glasses, tailored suits, sensible shoes, and had their index fingers permanently frozen into a pointing position.
You remember her, don't you?
It is your first visit to the public library. You enter the massive front door, and walk into the central hall, amazed. You feel dwarfed by its size, and awed by its impressiveness. It's so big. How can you ever find your way around?
Just then, out of the corner of your eye, you spot the Information Desk where she sits, Sphinx-like head submerged in a magazine.
You walk timidly towards her, but she is deeply engrossed in her reading, and does not acknowledge your existence. You proceed to stamp your feet, clap your hands, recite the Gettysburg Address in Polish, and sing ALL the verses of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Finally she deigns to look up. She appears rather annoyed that you dared to disturb her reading.
She speaks: CANIHELPYOU? or something like that, but all in one breath. You then explain that this is your first visit to the library, and you do need some help. (Ah, here is your big mistake.)
She mutters something about expansion, re-location, re-classification, card catalogs, book catalogs, and the Library of Congress. By this time you wonder what in heaven's name made you come to the library in the first place, and why, or how, such a person ever became a librarian.
This was my childhood image of the librarian, and when I actually began to work in a library I soon discovered that not all librarians were like that. Only about half had silver hair, wore half glasses, tailored suits, sensible shoes, and had index fingers permanently frozen into a pointing position. The other half were different: half of the half were real characters. If they weren't working in the library they would probably be patrons. The remaining few were really nifty and nice people, potentially Sensuous. Most, unfortunately, were laboring under the "old maid librarian" fallacy. Whoever coined that expression should have been forced to become a page.
Librarians of the world, UNITE!
It's time to break away from the old maid-Marian-Librarian image, or if the case may be, the fairy-Harry-Librarian image. Practice a few sensuous exercises to make the library full with the joy of life, and to help make you feel like a real person, and not just a role:
Pull up the shades. Open the windows. Let the sun shine in
Meditate
Greet the patron (your friend and taxpayer) with a smile. Look deep into his eyes. Grok his person
Get up to show a patron where a book is located. MOVE your whole body and not just your index finger
Don't treat non-professionals as non-professionals; treat them as human beings. An MLS does not always a librarian make
Remember the administrator is not always right. He may make the rules, but he does not have to live by them
If there is something to be done, do it. Better yet, get everyone to do it
Get involved; don't be afraid. PARTICIPATE
Ask the patrons for suggestions. Who knows they may even come up with some good ideas
Decorate, celebrate. It's always a holiday somewhere
Bring in goodies
Grow something green on your desk, and plant surprises in the catalogs (seed packets, happy thoughts, etc.)
Dress like Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, but don't ever dress like a librarian
Make your library a place of pleasure as well as a place of learning. Lights, colors, smells, movies, and music, music, music
Convert staff meetings into sensitivity sessions. Gently
Find a garden to lunch in. Sometimes have a departmental picnic. Bread, cheese and wine!
Write poetry
Crochet, knit, macrame, weave. Be crafty...
Imagine yourself in the centerfold of Lj
Read. It's good for the body as well as the soul
Use your imagination. Create the person you want to be
Live life to the fullest, and let the JOY of living spread happiness to your work, to the people you work with, and to those you meet every day.
Hey, who was that lady I saw you with last night? That was no lady. That was the SENSUOUS LIBRARIAN...