Why I’m A Librarian

Since Iris tagged me, I’ll tell you why I’m a librarian.

I considered several careers throughout my lifetime: when I was wee, I wanted to be a singer. When I was a little older, I wanted to be a psychologist. (I’m pretty sure this is because my best friend at the time wanted to be one, too.) When I was a teenager and writing angsty poetry, I wanted to be a writer. (Honestly? I still do want to be a writer.) When I got to college and took my first computer science class, I was completely and utterly smitten, and decided I wanted to be a programmer. That career might have come to fruition (and I suppose it still could) if I had not been foiled by Calculus.

I graduated from college without a clear idea of what I wanted to do for a living; I was working at my college’s library at the time. It occurred to me that I rather enjoyed working in the library, and that I’d done it quite a bit already (I even volunteered at my high school’s media center). I thought, hey, I bet I would enjoy doing this as a career.

I started looking at local job listings; I’m not sure if there weren’t paraprofessional positions open, or if I was looking in the wrong place. But I discovered I needed a master’s degree to become a librarian, and so I decided to get one.

I suppose that’s really more a story of how I became a librarian rather than why. Honestly, I’m a librarian because I love books, I’m perpetually curious, and because I saw librarianship as one way I could explore my techie interests.