#academiclibraries

One of deans at the academic institution I work at frequents the library due to meetings and whatnot; occasionally, she brings her daughter and son with her.

The first time I met her children, roughly aged 10 and 8, was to check out books to them. Now, one of her children had chosen books by the wonderful author Cornelia Funke, whom I adore (Twigleg, anyone? Silver tongue?). My natural enthusiasm bubbled over, and I proceeded to chat with the kids about Funke and other things.

Fast forward two weeks, and I see the daughter again, who is trailing her mother after school. I had just taken out a stack of picture books from my local library, and lent her a few to read while she waited. I mean, who wouldn't like Jon Klasson or Mo Willems to pass the time?

Fast forward another week, to today. The dean, the mother was again in the library for a meeting, and I finally asked her her daughter's name. After replying with it, she said:"You know, we came in yesterday, but you were gone, and my daughter asked if the woman with the Storm hair was here."

Guys. I burst out laughing, but then almost teared up.

When I first met this 8 year old little girl, and we were discussing super heros, I mentioned that if all my white/silver hair would grow in at once (I'm roughly at 60%), then I could dress as Storm from X-Men for every Halloween.

And she remembered.

Countless, innumerable times throughout the day, I, we are provided examples of adults, groups, cultures not listening to each other. Yet here is a child who listened AND remembered. And I believe she listened and remembered because I actually took the time to speak to her, to engage her in a silly discussion, to communicate not through a screen but face-to-face. Paying attention in person is vital and priceless, necessary to cultivating listeners in young (and old-ish) people.

Why have we arrived at the point where the adult population must be reminded of that?

The latest issue of Public Libraries features stories of learning failures by librarians.  Here’s my own story…well, one of them.

Right after college I was hired by a clothing chain to be part of their traveling store.  A tent was erected in a city in a parking lot near one of the  tores.  Clothes racks sporting merchandise were then setup. I was the assistant manger of this traveling clothing circus and about the same age as the teens and students we hired as temporary staff.

I found it hard to take a stand.  Maybe I was afraid of being too overbearing.  Maybe I was afraid of people not liking me if I gave any command.  Whatever the reason, I deferred to the manager for almost any decision.   The twins we hired where both hungry?  I asked the manager if they could  grab a bite during busy hour.  

The worst was when a difficult customer wanted to try clothes on in the store. We had a rule—no trying on clothes in our sibling stores since the inventory could be mixed up.  When I mentioned this she shot back “I see all the pretty girls getting to go in!  I want to see the manager.”  This shocked me.  Instead of saying “that’s me” and working with her I brought her over to the actual manger who was on break (he let her go in the store).

Not long afterwards he took me to lunch and politely explained that I was not cut out for this job.  I would be re-assigned to a lesser position back in our hometown.

I was devastated.  I had failed my first job out of college.  What good was my degree?   How could I be successful in the future?