Librarians and Books

For my day job, I work as a research assistant as part of a law firm's library. I do not have my Master's in Library Science, though I had applied and been accepted into a program. I had a few reasons for not pursuing me degree, the primary one is that so I could focus more on my business, which would be hard with a full time job and classes. But I had other reasons as well. This has probably been going on for awhile, but since I started my job, I have seen all sorts of libraries cut back on their staff, so a library degree didn't necessarily feel like a path to job security.

This gets a little political, but I don't think it should really offend anyone. The governor of California, Jerry Brown, has appointed a journalist to the position of state librarian. This person does not have his degree, though he claims he will take some classes. No experience either, making him less qualified for this position than me. It angers me that there is so little respect for librarians, and I hope his appointment does not go through. I'm considering how to get my opinion best heard, and I hope any Californians reading this do as well.

While many people feel libraries and their employees are becoming obsolete, they really are a valuable resource. While there are many times you can enter a few words into Google and get the information you want in your first page of results, there are occasions where that doesn't work. A librarian knows the various resources out there, and can help you find the information you need- whether it's in a book, or buried online in a place not even Google goes (and there a many places it doesn't- paid databases, for example).

This might seem a little off topic for this blog. As someone who has spent years working in a library, and has spent a lot of time in public libraries as well as my college's library, I want people to realize that librarians do have value. It is a profession that requires an advanced degree for most positions.

Now getting back to normal things. My love of libraries sprang from a love of books. I have read a lot of books pertaining to fragrance and other products I make, and will start including book reviews from time to time. I don't review books elsewhere, but I feel this is a natural fit, and hopefully I can guide some readers to some helpful books.