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silveradeptI...mostly need to document this, because it's such a rarity in my profession.
One of the regulars came up to me today while I was out at the help desk and said
The regular joked that he was serious about it, perhaps having expected he would grow out of his interest and take up something else. I said I was glad to hear the graduate was well and hoped, perhaps, that he would join the diplomatic corps.
"And save the world," the regular quipped.
"We can hope," I replied.
And then I was rather glad to have some time to process this, because it closes the loop. One of the stories of my career actually has an end, and on the timescale that I often suspect it takes for a librarian story to come all the way to an end.
There are several senses of scale in library school, and they'll talk about the differences between big libraries and small in terms of budgets and orientations and what sort of programs they can do, but there isn't necessarily any talk in school about how the small things snowball. For good and for ill.
I learned this year how small a margin can be and still get something done. And hopefully we'll all learn from that scare how to stop it from happening ever again.
This year, though, I finally have proof of how something you did in the very earliest parts of your career validated an interest and helped someone continue on the path they wanted to go.
Congratulations, and well done, self.
One of the regulars came up to me today while I was out at the help desk and said
You probably don't remember this, but 10 or 11 years ago, when you were at the temporary location, my grandson had just finished reading everything he felt he could about World War Two and felt he was ready to progress on to the Cold War. You were the librarian at the desk and you [laughs slightly] treated him like an adult and he got his books.I told this regular that I did remember the encounter, because it really was as described - a child with good knowledge of the Second Great War and who was ready to move to the next part of the history of the United States. I did what librarians do - a reference interview, and I got books in his hands to help him get started, and I wished him well in his pursuits. Nothing there was out of the ordinary, or required anything more than professionalism.
He just graduated from [local college] with a degree in international relations and has delayed admission into Tufts University to get a Masters in foreign relations. He'll have to serve a year deployed in the National Guard first, but after that, he'll get into the program.
The regular joked that he was serious about it, perhaps having expected he would grow out of his interest and take up something else. I said I was glad to hear the graduate was well and hoped, perhaps, that he would join the diplomatic corps.
"And save the world," the regular quipped.
"We can hope," I replied.
And then I was rather glad to have some time to process this, because it closes the loop. One of the stories of my career actually has an end, and on the timescale that I often suspect it takes for a librarian story to come all the way to an end.
There are several senses of scale in library school, and they'll talk about the differences between big libraries and small in terms of budgets and orientations and what sort of programs they can do, but there isn't necessarily any talk in school about how the small things snowball. For good and for ill.
I learned this year how small a margin can be and still get something done. And hopefully we'll all learn from that scare how to stop it from happening ever again.
This year, though, I finally have proof of how something you did in the very earliest parts of your career validated an interest and helped someone continue on the path they wanted to go.
Congratulations, and well done, self.
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Date: 2019-01-29 03:58 pm (UTC)And perhaps when they save the world, you'll hear "Ambassador so-and-so met with such-and-such; talks have been uneventful" in the news.
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Date: 2019-01-29 05:57 pm (UTC)This was a wonderful story, thank you for sharing it and for making a difference in the world. :)
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Date: 2019-01-29 08:02 pm (UTC)It was nice to hear actual confirmation that I did something good in the world.
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Date: 2019-01-29 08:42 pm (UTC)(Per your sticky, I’ll be linking to this from Twitter and today’s journal entry, because the world needs more lovely things.)
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