National Library Week: An interview with a librarian (and my mother)

Next Sunday (April 13) begins the National Library Week, a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries. As the ALA site says "it is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support."

I love libraries and I thought that in celebration of the National Libary Week it would be great to interview a librarian for this blog. I didn't think twice and called my mom. Yep, my mother, Nava Godelnik, is a librarian in Israel for the last 27 years. Luckily, she agreed to answer my questions :-)

Hi mom - how many years do you work as a librarian?

27 Years

How much have libraries changed during these 27 years? when did you enjoy it more - now or back then?

The work of a librarian today is more technocratic because of the greater availability of information and also because computers takes a bigger part of the librarian's work. Personally, I enjoyed more the kind of work we did back then in the old days..

What do you think is the most important part in the work of librarians?

Good contact with the people who come to the library, which I think encourages reading, knowledge - you have to stay up to date with the latest books, and of course to read, read and read.

What do you like most and what do you like less in your work?

like to read books and recommend those that I liked. I don't like to lending DVDs and see that they get more and more popular at the expense of books.

What's more fun - working with grown ups or children?

Both - with the nice ones in both groups :-)

Do children really read more because of the Harry Potter series?

I don't feel that the series made a significant change. It also looks to me that kids are much less enthusiastic about the last book comparing with the first one.

How libraries fit in the 21st century digital world?

We will see more computerization of libraries that will influence many processes - registration, ordering books, the online connection between libraries that allows to 'import' a book from another library when you don't have it in your own, etc. We already see more and more libraries with their own websites and online catalogs, which for example enable readers to check out at home what new books arrived to the library.

When you look 27 years backwards, if you could have choose again what would you like to do back then, would it be to work as a librarian?

Probably yes.

And finally, what do you think of Eco-Libris?

I think it's a great combination between the world of books and ecology, which emphasize the value of conservation of trees, which are disappearing from our globe at an alarming rate.

Thanks mom! and greetings to all the librarians that will celebrate the National Library Week next week (April 13-19). For more information on this week, please check ALA website (and especially this fact sheet).

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Plant trees with Eco-Libris!