Library School is great, but don’t forget that on-the-job training

I learned many excellent and useful things in my Library School (which was UCLA’s then-named Graduate School of Library and Information Studies), but there were no courses on:

Creating easy and fun crafts out of manila folders, paper plates, round colored labels, toilet paper tubes, or the round metal tops of frozen juice cans.

 Figuring out respectful and kind ways to prevent a person with personal hygiene issues from emptying out an entire section of the library.

Removing all manner of graffiti from all manner of surfaces.

Finding and keeping good Friends – and gently tempering the enthusiam of those Friends who take their role rather too seriously.

 Discovering the best products for cleaning books and DVDs/CDs.

 Maintaining a bland and attentive expression while a patron explains why he shouldn’t be charged a fine for a book his dog ate or decries the library policy of requiring picture i.d. to get a library card or loudly questions why we allow anyone under the age of 18 into the library.

Luckily, on-the-job training provided me with an expertise in all these crucial library matters – and much, much more!  (Go ahead, ask me how to entertain a packed roomful of squirmy toddlers and their parents who were expecting to see a professional and very popular children’s musician – who you just discovered has double-booked and won’t be coming).

 Library School didn’t teach me about all the joy and wonder of working in the library, either – that was a happy discovery I made early on and that keeps surprising me even now.