Renee S., who graduated last term, is now in China setting up a brand-new school library from scratch. Her blog ruminations on her experiences and struggles are always well-written and often hilarious. I'm not sure if I should take issue with this recent post though – I think she's comparing me to Paris Hilton!
“For Canadian Library Month, the CLA is suggesting that one possible Special Topic Day activities could be Celebrity Librarian's Day…where celebrity librarians greet the public.
I've
been working in libraries for quite awhile now, and I have to say that,
outside of the rather insular library world, I can't think of too many
librarians who I would classify as 'celebrity'. Actually, even within
the library world, aside from maybe Jason Hammond, no one really stands out as Paris Hilton-esque. Is there something I've been missing?”
My referrer logs also led me to a mention on another site from a library student who's just started at McGill:
“anyway – i realise that it’s almost de rigeur for MLIS students to have
a blog, so i appreciate that my little old blog is hardly
ground-breaking. along with interesting links to stuff i find, i’ll
also be detailing the nitty-gritty of library school, which i found
sorely lacking (except for Jason Hammond’s blog which is brilliant) when i was looking for the truth about what the experience would be like.”
Finally, I had an IM chat with a classmate recently who made this observation: “It's interesting because you've become a bit mythic for some people, 'jason, the man about library school', i've heard some people talk about reading your blog but being too nervous or intimidated to talk with you.”
I guess that's one-part flattering and about six-parts extremely disturbing. Why? Well, I tried to make a big effort in the first weeks of both the summer and fall terms (and I guess in my own first term too) to get to know lots of people and, for the summer and fall terms, help answer the questions of the “new kids” and make them feel comfortable. So to hear that some people would be reluctant to talk to me because I…what's a way to put this without sounding like an egomaniac?…have a big profile at FIMS is quite unfortunate.
So if anyone out there is secretly reading this, be aware that I don't bite and if you want to chat about library school or your classes or your professors or pretty much anything, I'm happy to chat anytime about anything. I'm not around the school as much this semester but you can also e-mail me, IM me (jason@hammond.net on MSN), drop by (#804-1231 Richmond St.), call me (519-435-1948) or beer me (Grad Club, anytime.)
Although they weren't nearly the egomaniacs that I am 
, a lot of how I act around here is modelled on Sabina and David and others I knew who were ahead of me when I started and who always made an effort to say 'hello' or share their wisdom or whatever. I'm sure there's a direct line right back to the start of the program of people who fill this role and I'm sure that there will be people who come after me who continue to fill this role of being friendly, outgoing and helpful wherever possible. Beyond what you learn in the classroom, to me, this is the real essence of what a librarian should be.
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