Imagine, having just fallen off a cliff and managed, unbelievably, to hang on by your fingertips.
Even when you right yourself ,and are back on terra firma, inches from a Lear-like drop, there is still the urge to hug the ground and not test altitude any further.
Later, there will come a time when one wants to haul oneself into a cautiously sitting position, take out the mobile and ring someone to bawl incoherently down the phone.
But now, just for a little while, you just lie there, feeling the blessed earth beneath your limbs.
When my daughter left the sanctuary of primary school at ten years old, the culture shock of being in Big School was considerable.
Suddenly this big fish was very small indeed. The playground was a place of the unknown, the dinner hall a whole new set of routines. Terrifying for first-timers, green behind the gills.
But this school is clever: yes, it is canny.
It has provided a metaphorical place to feel the earth beneath one’s limbs.
The old chapel, a whitewashed 19th century gothic delight, has been converted into a perfect library. And anyone can cling to its sedate aisles and hushed atmosphere, for grim life, while all around them is a maelstrom of change.
This is precisely what my daughter chooses to do.
Every lunchtime, she eschews the hurley burly of the playground and potters off to the library to meet a growing group of friends who have the same interests.She was delighted to be offered the post of librarian part way through the term, and has been learning the Dewey Decimal system with enthusiasm.
Today she got off the coach, her face glowing. “Mum!” she exclaimed; “I got a commendation!”
My daughter has been given a rare accolade for her work as a librarian because, the chief librarian says, she is punctual, fastidious and accurate.
She was sent to the Head Teacher’s PA to book an appointment: and the Head Teacher held a special audience. Waiting on the desk was a bowl of sweets, and Maddie bore one off in rosy foil-wrapped triumph.
My daughter, the librarian. I knew she had a niche: but somehow I never envisaged it being this one.And now she’s there, it seems to fit like a kid glove.
It is true: it provides order, and safety, and a port in a storm. But there, surrounded by books of every conceivable kind, she is in her own world: a world consisting of words and meanings.
The librarian has oft been maligned in folklore as an inflexible creature of habit and routine. But in literature this character is the perfect beginning of a story, surrounded by dusty volumes stretching across a vast expanse of words.
Take Umberto Eco’s approach, for example.
What could be stranger and more remote than a librarian felled by a poisoned tome?
Such is Malachi of Hildesheim, one who knows what power books hold and maintains an iron grip on the books in his care.
He is from The Name Of The Rose; and he wields influence because he, and only he, knows where each book is in his, the greatest library in the Christian world, housed in a great abbey.
In that library is knowledge and Malachi holds the power to let men read only what he deems safe. Dangerous books can be prohibited.
Ironic, then, that he is killed by a poisoned book.
The very concept of dangerous books belies the word ‘librarian’. Yet, do these books not exist? Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, Marx’s Das Kapital, Hitler’s Mein Kampf: books like these incite men to dangerous deeds. To riot. To murder.
Can you really see these books suitably subdued by mild-mannered milksops? No: it takes a veritable lion tamer to be a librarian. To keep the world’s dangerous books at bay, with library chair if necessary.
And so, perhaps we should irrevocably revise the mild-mannered librarian image.
After all: I read from Christopher Brown Syed and Barnard Sands – in a 1997 edition of Education Libraries -that Hypatia of Alexandria, the last librarian of Alexandria in the fifth century, had many guises, including mathematician and philosopher.
And she met her death, murdered by a Christian mob who, perversely, accused her of causing religious unrest.
And then there was Yurii Vladimirovich Got’e, head of the Lenin Library, who still found time to record the cataclysmic events of the Russian Revolution. He was considered dangerous enough to exile: and finally, put back in his job as head of the Library.
In truth, I am not sure I want a daughter of mine in this fiery field of expertise.
I shall pop out tomorrow and buy her a book-taming kit.
If you have a mo, check out two of my favourite blogging librarians: Kathy at To Write is to Write is to Write, and Angela at Yellow House Cafe.
Kate Shrewsday 
Hurrah for Maddie! If she chooses to continue in the field, she’ll always be happy in her work. I’ve never known a librarian who wasn’t in love with the job. While you’re buying the chair for the books, you might pick up a whip. One can’t predict when a mob will come storming in wanting to ban something.
(Or she might choose to attend library school at Monty Python U.: “You see, I don’t believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that’s been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians. …….”)
[Thanks for the mention–that’s very kind, as is your custom.]
Kathy, what a priceless comment from a dyed-in-the-wool book tamer. Thank you. I’ll pass on your comments to Maddie…off to chase up that Monty Python scene now!
“dyed-in-the-wool book tamer” – guy! just so cool. u r a great read any time kate. keep on.
Hi Sana: thanks 🙂 Hope you and the family and shaping up for a lovely Christmas.
I really don’t like the image of a lone librarian deciding what can and cannot be read, Kate.
I hope Maddie continues to enjoy her librarianship!
Eco made him inflexible and a little sinister, Denise: I think his librarian was always going to be destined for that poisoned book. Thanks for the wellwishes: I’ll pass them on!
My realm in a library (many many years ago) was books, news cuttings, micro-film of old records. Then I branched out into where information is managed differently, but often come full circle back to identifying, tracking, opening and hiding.
She needs to read Terry Pratchett to learn about the orangutang librarian and books where the magic leaks out
I love Pratchett’s librarian, Sidey, even more than Cressida Cowell’s hairy scary librarian. There is something about a librarian with That Look in his eye.
A noble calling!
Indeed 🙂
Wonderful for Maddie, and how sensible of the school.
The closest I’ve ever got to being a librarian was working in a book shop- it would have been perfect if not for the ‘shop’ aspect.
It is a shame to see all those books wander away, never to be seen again: At least libraries have designed a boomerang effect into the system. And consumerism: bleh.
When I was in junior and senior high school, I was on all the Varsity sports teams and loved sports. But, the most fun I had was always in the library, a great librarian and an insatiable need to read everything I could was why I spent so much time there. I was always spending extra school periods there and had a whole different group of friends among my library cohorts.
Glad to see young Maddie choosing this wonderful path.
Thanks Lou 🙂 Wonderful to hear from an athlete who chose the library and loved it.
Good for Maddie, Kate, I shall congratulate her when I see her – which ain’t gonna be long!!!
Dad
Yup, you’ll see her in action tomorrow night, Dad!
How very exciting for her! I have no doubt that she will be more than a match for any wayward books she encounters. With such a young start, she is bound (giggle, sorry, bad pun) to become a wily keeper of the books.
😀 Let us hope so, Angela…
I tend to agree with adeeyoyo, but I also believe myself to be a realist. I should also probably eschew any lewd comments regarding fondness for librarians in this context.
Congrats to Maddie! What a potential position, indeed! No big surprise for a Shrewsday, though… 🙂
Anywhere we can sit in among millions of words, Brett, we’re happy 🙂
Congratulations to Maddie! What a terrific opportunity for early training in a delightful field. I always thought that being a librarian would be akin to being a kid in a candy store!
Being a fan of old musicals, when someone mentions a librarian, I ALWAYS think first of Marian…… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciU14dQ5bKk 🙂
I love the idea of coming to a library to take out the librarian, Karen 😀
Three cheers for Maddie. Atta girl!
I was about Maddie’s age, maybe 11 or 12, when I was “selected” to be a school library helper. I loved every minute of being in that library until I went on to high school (where libraries even got better). Our school library was really a repurposed classroom, with books along the walls and more shelves in the middle for younger readers. I’m sure I read most of the books there and became quite conversant with Mr. Dewey and his decimal points.
Ah, the keepers of words. . . powerful, subversive, influential, often deadly; and a wonderful piece of paradise for young girls and boys.
What a wonderful comment, Penny. You have summed them up: and since you are infatuated with books, old and new, the beauty in the eye of the beholder shines through.
Yeah, Maddie! When I was her age and for many years after, you couldn’t drag me away from the world of books…
I sense it is just the same with Maddie, Ruth…
That Maddie will travel far with her enthusiasm and her skill for organization. I know you and Phil are proud of her.
We are, Andra: sometimes her choices puzzle me, but she is invariably right in the long run. As she is always telling us:’ the child is the father of the man…’
Today’s librarians spent a small degree of time with books as opposed to the time they spend with technology.
Yes, the world it is a-changing, Carl. And while I adore the tactile experience of a book there are things about this information super-highway of ours which make it sweet to be a librarian working at the cutting edge. So much to know and so little time.
Kate, my mind has gone wild with images of a book tamer! And not necessarily in a sensible kind of way! Great post, though, and well done to Maddie. I was always (well, once…) told off at the headmaster’s office, and no appointment was ever needed for that! 😀
No, it’s amazing how a head can move appointments about in his diary to accommodate a transgressor, Tom 😀 No appointment needed for that.
I don’t think a book tamer is necessarily a sensible occupation, any more than a tight rope walker or an escapologists. But someone’s got to keep the little blighters under control.
How exciting! Why is it that I’m envisioning a future library with owls posted in the rafters, keeping watch over the stacks? Good job, Maddie!
It’s clearly a magical profession, Patti 🙂
As a retired librarian, in love with books since I learned to read at the age of 3, I really enjoyed this post. Your daughter could do much worse in life than be a librarian. She just needs to like people as much as books and she’ll have a very satisfying life.
Hello Perpetua – thanks for coming along to read. And sage advice too: not once in our thread so far has anyone mentioned one of the bedrock requirements of a librarian: to be a people person. I shall make sure Maddie knows that one. Thank you 🙂
Way to go, Maddie. Grand to know the heart’s desire at such a young age! Bit of an acorn, is she? 🙂
Oooh, now I’m envisaging my daughter as a mighty oak, Amy 😀 She is full of surprises: but whatever she chooses I think words will be a central part of her occupation.
We went to the island library today for a presentation of Christmas Stories written by Dylan Thomas, Truman Capote, and Grace Paley . . . and performed by the Asolo Repertory Theatre Guild Play Readers.
Then . . . wandering the stacks at the library, I perused the “for sale” books and purchased a Thesaurus of Book Digests ~ a collection and summary of great literary works since Way Back When.
You (and Maddie) would love it!
It sounds absolutely wonderful, Nancy: and now you send me of to find the stories you mention. What a fabulous event for a library to stage!
I’m concerned when I hear a young person is so at home in the library, and it takes a special parent to understand how dangerous this is! I think you know well the pitfalls of a strong and competent young woman exposed to so much knowledge…beware! D
Warning heeded, Debra 😀 Who knows where all this could lead?
You have every right to be suffering from hyperinflation of the head on her behalf – not only does she barely arrive before finding an important niche, but then she excels in it!
The school is fab at recognising strengths, Col: we always come away glowing, and I think very other parent does too!
Librarians are keepers of the flame of knowledge – so appropriate for Maddie with her love owls (just like Athena, goddess of wisdom). I’m so glad she’s found her niche. Books were always my sanctuary, too, and I was a librarian’s assistant in high school and as my first job after graduation. Sounds like Maddie’s feet are firmly in the fantastic land of the written word!
Good luck with that book-taming kit, Kate. I suspect you’ll have no success at all, and that Maddie will be one of the happiest employees on the planet – she doesn’t have an affinity with owls for nothing…
BB, you could very well be right 🙂
What will happen to Librarians when the eBook takes over? Not a pleasant thought methinks.
Indeed! I do think there is a place for a seat of learning in every town, an informal place where one can come to find things out and learn things. And I’m not sure we will ever want to dispense with the tactile qualities of books for good. Look at Winston in 1984….