Last week an MLS student interviewed me for a project. The last part of my reply to her was this:
Find a job you love. No one goes into librarianship for the money. We go into it for love. There a plenty of bitter, disenchanted people out there in all professions. If you don’t love what you’re doing, do something else.
I think it bears repeating.
Librarian by Day 
I see this everyday at work and couldn’t agree with you more. Sadly, I think that the people once loved their profession but just became disenchanted somehow. Thank you for saying it, maybe it will help spark, rekindle, or continue the fire for what we do.
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It was working at a couple of crappy jobs that make me appreciate librarianship all the more. I love what I do. Rarely does it arise to the “work” level since I’m enjoying what I do. That’s the key to it. Sure, it’s not always sunshine and puppy dogs, but the rare bad moments can’t hold a candle to everything else.
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RT @librarianbyday: If you don’t love what you’re doing, do something else https://librarianbyday.net/2009/09/if-you…
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RT @librarianbyday: If you don’t love what you’re doing, do something else https://librarianbyday.net/2009/09/if-you…
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I love my job. A lot. I know exactly how lucky I am. But I do complain about it (on twitter and a blog and to real world friends) because hey, while I do love it to pieces, sometimes it kicks me when I’m down. (What? 12 hour day with 4 hours straight of teaching freshmen comp? I’d LOVE to!)
I agree with the sentiment that you should love your job, but loving (and being good at) your job does not mean that you don’t get to complain. The library world isn’t all rainbows and lollipops and I think that if we aren’t allowed to vent about it, we will all spontaneously combust from sheer frustration at humanity. (Oh hush with the judging. We all have those days when we’re shocked at the things people do. It’s a reality of working in the service industry.)
I hope my comment is taken in the spirit which it was written – that we’re all human and everyone needs to let go sometimes.
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There is nothing in this post that says you aren’t allowed to complain when you have a bad or a bad week.
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Liza! I’m Liza too! 🙂 HELLO.
I’ve become disenchanted by librarianship mostly because the public/administration/library boards/funding, etc. seem to find us completely irrelevant and no matter what ‘we’ do, it seems to just be getting worse.
I AM, actually, keeping my eye out for something else. Although it’s a lot easier to glibly say “do something else” than to actually DO something else. Believe me, I’ll get out once I figure out what else I’m good at. And which I can be appreciated for doing.
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it’s okay to not like a job, but it’s a plus if you like the career. the two overlap, but they’re not the same thing.
also, it’s worth noting that in this economy, this kind of advice is nice, but sometimes scary to follow through with!
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