My Favorite Librarian
Posted in Libraries, Uncategorized on 03/27/2010 10:37 am by jess
The Music Man’s Marion is, of course, an excellent librarian, but my favorite librarian is my friend Judy, whom I worked with several years ago. Judy was obsessed with cleaning the gunk off the binding labels, and whenever I’d stop in to chat (often), she’d say, “Let me just get my cleaner,” and she’d stand there and attack the binding with a wet cotton ball. She had a fantastic collection of colored pens and paper clips, and while she’d clean, I’d arrange the paper clips in rainbow order. Often, I’d find that one of my favorite students, a Judy fan as well, had beat me to it. Judy’s that kind of librarian–loyal fans, long talks.
One of my favorite Judy Library stories involves the Poppleton books for young readers. Poppleton is a great character: large and pink, what he lacks in intellect he makes up for in kindness. In one Poppleton book, he carries, among other things, a suitcase and–I believe–a pink hanky. Judy, being the great librarian that she is, assembled miniature Poppleton items for her class to hand around, including a tiny square of pink Kleenex. One of her first-graders, on seeing it, looked up at her anxiously. “Is this Poppleton’s?” he asked. “Should we be careful so we don’t mess it up?”
Or at least I think that’s how the story goes. The point is, Judy is a librarian who makes magic happen, whether she’s solving your problems over a stack of gummy books or cutting a tissue down to imagination size.
Saturday, March 27th is your last day to have a comment counted toward the Library-Lovin’ Blog Challenge! Leave a comment and I’ll donate $1 to the local library. If I amass 10 comments today, I’ll make it $1.50 per! And thanks to Jennifer Hubbard for starting the challenge in the first place! You are a visionary!
03/27/2010 at 10:42 am
Books are amazing, I’ll do anything to help libraries! Thanks for doing this, Jessica!
03/27/2010 at 11:31 am
You make me miss the librarian at my old school. She was always bringing a new picture book she knew I would love.
03/27/2010 at 12:49 pm
Love librarians, but spent more time on the floor of our local Walden’s pouring over the newest Trixie Belden as I recall. I do fondly remember always associating librarians with that sweet dry paper smell of library books, and the crackling of the plastic protector.
All the best, Jess!
03/27/2010 at 1:16 pm
I love librarians! BPD was talking about going librarian for a while. She didn’t, but oh how I love to imagine her indexing.
03/27/2010 at 1:29 pm
Whoa! Six new comments just in the last few hours. Will we make it to 10 new comments today? Will I be donating $60 instead of $40 to the libe? We shall see. Nice to see you here, Johanna and Hazel! (And other people I don’t know, too!)
03/27/2010 at 1:46 pm
Librarians are great!
And I’m not familiar with the Poppleton books, but will keep an eye out; they sound fun.
03/27/2010 at 1:52 pm
My mother learned the technical aspects of being a librarian from a woman named Kitty who was the Upper School librarian at our alma mater! My mom went on to be a librarian in “small town” Vermont and over 20 years saw the renovation and enlargement of a one-room school house into a “bustling lending library” that also became the facility for a Music History class (also led by my mom) and home to a fantastic public library children section … as well as the library becoming a recipient of a Freeman Foundation grant for a computer or two – and the lessons to go with it! The library also held a wonderful summer fund-raiser, book sale, and “town party” featuring a ton of food (including make your own sundaes!), live music and a fantastic community raffle! Needless to say, I have great admiration for librarians. Right now our public school librarian doubles as the media/technology teacher! And in town the librarian runs one of the most popular area “story Hours” around!
03/27/2010 at 2:24 pm
I would like to make sure that my $1/$1.50 does not go toward the purchase of any Baby Max and Ruby books or copies of “Picnic.” Please pass this along. Good day.
03/27/2010 at 6:03 pm
I absolutely love libraries!!! (I couldn’t survive Vermont College without mine)
03/27/2010 at 7:51 pm
Wohoo comment 10! Your book looks great I’ll have to add it to my list 🙂 Thanks for stopping by my blog!
03/27/2010 at 10:44 pm
Yay, Jess! We love our library! Love what you’re doing here.
: )
03/28/2010 at 8:50 am
I grew up in a poor neighborhood that had the privilege of being visited by The Book Mobile. I will always remember sitting in their looking through books and checking them out. When I could, I would also walk the many miles to the “local” library. It was always a 1/2 Saturday well-spent. Even so, I never once thought of becoming a librarian, until four years ago. It is with great joy and honor that I go to work each day. As a teacher-librarian, I also get to work in the classroom! I’m am blessed and sometimes, scared. The principal and teachers at my school are encouraging and supportive which makes me want to work harder.
Sorry for the long missive! I hope we raise lots of money!
03/28/2010 at 5:44 pm
Wow. Never in a million years would I have remembered Marion the librarian in The Music Man. I love you for that. 🙂
03/28/2010 at 8:18 pm
Hi Jessica – I am so happy you’re raising money for libraries – what a good thing to do. One of my best friends is Craig Buthod, the director of the Louisville Free Public Library, who was just selected as Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year. I love the cover of Nice and Mean (and the title), and am looking forward to reading it when it comes out.
03/29/2010 at 9:13 am
Librarians might not have saved my life, but they made it WAY more interesting. From the grade school librarian who helped me find a book on Fats Waller for my 3rd-grade book report (I remember!) or the small, small, small-town librarian who saved the next OZ book for me to read the summer I made my way through the whole series, or the library in Moorhead, MN that had books in the 306 Dewey Decimal range that helped a middle school student figure some important things out, to the high school librarian who looked almost exactly like Carol Burnett and handed me some of the important books of my childhood to your own commenter Nancy Pearl who turned me on to ALL KINDS of books I wouldn’t have known about….
And now, thank you libraries and librarians for actually having paper books with information from the past, and for having a kind of random assortment of books on tape for those long drives, for having a great poetry purchaser and real dedication to access to technology to a lot of folks who really need it these days.
Thanks for a great challenge, and a great moment to remember all the smart folks and well-used tax money that have improved my life.
03/29/2010 at 12:17 pm
Thank you so much for dropping by, Nancy Pearl! I can see your BOOK CRUSH right from where I sit. I consult it frequently to find books similar to the ones I’m writing, and it was a tremendous resource when I planned my middle-school curriculum. Now as in the past, you have made my day!