Thursday, October 30, 2008

Reading

Inherent in all work but never defined and therefore never given weight is the act of reading. The amount and kind of materials read depends upon the kind of trade one practices. The medical doctor reads her medical journals, the secretary her memos. The shopkeeper his trade catalog, stock and deliveries.

Some professions read more than others. Some professions' existence itself depends upon constant reading. One of these professions is librarianship. They read introduction to books, book jackets, table of contents when they catalog; newspapers, magazines and journals when they index. Some librarians too read books that interest them personally. Books which whether they accept it or not, helped them function as better librarians.

Unfortunately much of the public do not understand these librarian activities. Even their fellow professionals do not realize the meaning of these reading activities. The views are at extreme opposites. One view is that librarians' jobs are difficult because of all the readings they do while the other is that librarians had it so easy because all they do is read and read.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

End of Anonymity

I've been invited to post a blog on a legitimate and serious type of blogging so there goes my anonymity. Basically the readers of that blog would not care very much who posts the blog. But then some inquisitive types would check me out. At some level I am still anonymous, all they would know about me is that I am a librarian from the Eastern Visayas.

But I rather like being a contributor too. I could practice weaving words that way. Also the older librarians said, "accept this responsibility, it's grooming the new generation".

New generation of librarians are suppose to be pro-active, dynamic, aware, involved, etc. If I continue with this streak, I could be like that, but still trying to be one takes a whole lot of effort from me. Psychologically, I am made to be the traditional type of librarian.