Ask a Librarian

My soapbox

I am on Facebook more than I should be. I delete it from my phone now & then (a lot more lately) to keep me from getting a “fix” by tapping on that spot in my phone.

I read all kinds of things from all kinds of people in various groups on Facebook. Here are a few examples of things I have read in the last few days:

• “My boyfriend / fiancé / husband is abusive, should I leave him? Where would I go? Where do I live?”

• “I don’t know how to start a (local) business. I wouldn’t even know how to start that kind of thing.”

• “I am new around town, and I can’t figure out where to go to meet new friends.”

• “I am really broke and struggling and I need food and my child’s birthday is coming up and I am so scared of how to deal with this because I don’t want to disappoint them. Help!”

• “My pet is having strange symptoms and I don’t know what to do about this. Do I go to a vet? Is this normal behavior? Am I supposed to ignore it or panic?”

I find myself consistently saying the following advice so often, for years now, in every kind of group, on so many posts, and it’s consistently replied to with, “Wow! Really? I didn’t know that!”

So I thought I would share this Wisdom from Jodi with you all.

---

Ask a Librarian

Go to the library and find someone who works there. Ask them, “are you the librarian?” If they say “yes!” Then you’re gold. Ask them. If they hesitate, then they are not the librarian. They should, however, very quickly point out the actual librarian. Go talk to THAT person.

Librarians are trained in how to find anyone any kind of information. They may not be able to give you an immediate response, but they will take down your phone number or email or whatever you would like to share with them about how to contact you, and they will get back to you with the answers that you’re looking for on any topic you can think of.

They LOVE to do this kind of work. It’s what they went to school for!

And: it’s not the same as looking something up on the Internet. The Internet will regurgitate who knows what. It could be accurate, it could be false information. It could be a scam. It could be true in some cases or places or in some communities, but maybe against the law where you live. It could just show you results that it thinks you want to see. Skewed, in other words. I tend to trust the Internet about as far as I can throw it. And I don’t even know how to throw it.

A Librarian, on the other hand, will do actual research. You know, like with books and phone calls to experts and other methods of things I don’t know about. IN ADDITION - they live in your community. They know people. They know the resources (lawyers, homeless shelters, food banks, where the laundromat is, grants available to apply for in the community, events…) I mean, they KNOW this stuff off the top of their heads. And they can find accurate information from any source for things they don’t know right off the bat.

They can find rules, regulations, laws, court cases, dog laws & rules, recipes, diet tips, everything. Whatever you can think of, they know how to look it up and find accurate answers.

You know what? They LOVE doing this for people. Seriously.

Since the beginning of The Internet and WebCrawler (which predated Google), Librarians have become a less-and-less used resource. They miss people.

I go to my local libraries now and then, and they are empty. The librarian always looks up & genuinely seems happy to see me. I can talk with them about any book on their shelf. A few weeks ago, I was returning a book by my favorite author from college - Anne McCaffrey. And I said, “I didn’t actually read this book this time, but I have read it in the past and I don’t want it to get discarded, so I checked it out to keep it on the shelf.”

You know what the librarian replied to me? “Oh, that one is staying here. We won’t be getting rid of that one.” And it made me feel incredibly happy to hear that! I heard the tone in her voice say, “that author is valuable. She stays.” I found a kindred spirit in my Librarian that day.

Also, aside from librarians, Libraries are necessary. We need them. We as a society NEED them. Home-insecure folks go and sit in there, for free, and get to have circulated, room-temperature are. Cool air in the summer, warm air in the winter. It keeps people from dying of heat exhaustion or freezing to death. Literally. Libraries save lives. For free.

Libraries provide refuge for divorcing people who are trying to get away from their spouse. (Ask me how I know.) They can access the computer and look up information or access email without their spouse finding out what they have been up to. A woman who is controlled by her husband and not allowed to speak with anyone can get online and find paths to get out of the bad situation she is in: a job, a community of women helping women, money, shelter, food, housing for her and her children ….

Homeless kids can use the libraries computers to do their homework. I spent countless hours in my local library researching things to write papers on topics I was passionate about, in school. I learned about dolphins and fishing net danger, vegetarianism, Houdini, George Washington, Sally Ride, so many wonderful fantastical beings like dragons and fairies, and so much more. A library is a gateway to so many other worlds - almost exactly like the episode in the original Star Trek series episode, “The Library.” (I think that’s what it was called.)

If libraries aren’t consistently utilized, funding gets lessened and lessened. It can get to the point (like my library in Shenandoah, Virginia) where it’s no longer open, even during posted hours when they are supposed to be open. I drove there several times in the course of living there for 18 months, and I never saw it open. It made me so sad, every time, too. I finally gave up and used the Harrisonburg, Virginia library, even though it was a 45 minute drive from my home in Shenandoah.

My local library can laminate large things. Another local library I used to live near (the Fairfax County Public Library system in Virginia) could do 3D printing for anyone. I have heard of a library in the Washington, DC area that has a plethora of Black genealogical data for any person of color who is looking for their ancestral history. It’s a necessary resource for that community.

We want these necessary resources to stay open.

Go in and ask your burning questions. Get answers. Your librarians will be so happy to be this resource for you. It’s their calling.