A Librarian's Life - Anything but Dull: Sepia Saturday

This weeks Sepia Saturday prompt features a man in very formal wear ( c.1910's?) working in a library.  A century on, here are the ten stages of my life as a Librarian -

LIBRARIES  have played a large part in my life. From an early age, after school visits to the local library, I played at being a Librarian. I remember one Christmas being delighted at getting in my stocking a date stamp. I made up issue labels for my books, and dragooned my family into being customers, so I could enthusiastically stamp away. 

So what did I become? A Librarian - and yes I did conform a bit to the stereotyped image - the glasses did it!

Does anyone remember the Smirnoff vodka advert where the librarian (dowdy clothes, hair in a bun and of course wearing spectacles), whips off her glasses, loosens her hair shaking it into a tousled look, pulls up her skirt to shorten it,  undoes her top buttons - and gets a new look and new life?

 I can't say that was me, though I did have a spell at wearing contact lenses. Instead, I spent my time trying to counteract the image that all librarians did was a boring task of stamping books!   The following experiences come to mind.

1.  Stuck in a Snowstorm - As a student I had various Saturday and holiday jobs in Edinburgh City Libraries, most memorably getting stuck in a mobile library on a hill in a snowstorm!   Not that I was driving!

2.  An American Adventure - After graduating in history, I was lucky enough, to join of a year-long exchange scheme for trainee librarians with my placement at Radcliffe College, the sister college to Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. USA, in a lovely setting across the river from Boston

 

I loved New England, and took advantage, with another British girl I met, of taking the Greyhound bus offer of "99 dollars for 99 days of travel" around the States - a wonderful time, before it was back to Scotland.

 

3. Information Officer - My first professional job after a year at Library School was back in Edinburgh where my task was to set up an resource centre for a small organisation involved in youth and community work.   After two years, it was time to move on and widen my experience.

 

4. Reference Librarian at the Cutting Edge - My second professional job  was at  Moray House, Edinburgh's College of Education with a remit to set up a Modern Studies Information Resource. This was long before the Internet, and involved setting up project files of ephemera for use by students and staff - mainly press cuttings, and compiling source lists for students. I got to look through all the quality daily papers - a great job and nothing boring about it.    I had always fancied working as a newspaper librarian, or as a BBC researcher, though jobs were few and far between, so this was coming close to it. 

5.  Dumbo to Dinosaurs  - I was a stay-at-home Mum, living in the  rural Scottish Borders, when a newsletter from my daughter's primary school announced that a school auxiliary had been asked to set up a library in the school. My professional hackles arose - obviously a job that the head teacher felt anyone could do! So I got in touch, took on the role,  and I was back classifying the school collection, creating a catalogue and guides for use.  As it was a voluntary task, I could take my time and have a good look through all the books, with dinosaurs seeming to be the most popular topic - not one I could relate to. 
6.  Information Assistant at Hawick Tourist Information Centre - when I saw this part-time seasonal post advertised, I knew it was right up my street, though I I couldn't have done it, if my husband had not been a teacher to look after our daughter.

Note no computer, (it was 1978),   an old fashioned telephone and no uniform - just a name badge.  I was working in the town's main car park, in a portacabin with no electricity and you had to make use of the public toilets across the car park.   One year the season was extended  into October and I was given a gas light for the desk.    I was terrified  I would knock it over and set the cabin alight.  I could just picture  the headlines in the local paper!

7. Information Centre Manager - A promotion to the largest and busiest centre in the Borders at Jedburgh - a gateway to Scotland. I was no longer working on my own there and I had a  company of colleagues who remain friends today.  Things had moved on a bit,  though we were not yet into the computer age.  We now had a stylish uniform - which echoed the fashion of the day for all things tartan.

Life was never dull - we dressed up for a Fun Open Day, welcomed a formal royal visit from Prince Charles (name dropping I know!)  and helped many visitors  get the most out of  of their holiday.  The work was a source of many  humorous anecdotes.

Was the Abbey Bombed?  This was one of the very many quirky queries we faced.

And the answer to the question? Well - the 12th century Jedburgh Abbey was destroyed in 1544 by Henry VIII's army which invaded south Scotland in what was known as the "Rough Wooing" as Henry tried to enforce the marriage of his son Edward to the young Mary Queen of Scots - some 400 years before World War Two fighter planes flew over the Borders.  

I loved this job - meeting people from all over the world, answering questions, organising the stock, preparing displays and compiling fact sheets.  

8.  Information Officer/Visitor Service Manager I  was head hunted to Head Office - so a promotion!   I must admit I missed the contact with visitors and the satisfaction gained from answering enquiries. 

I knew I was good at operational management, but I struggled a bit with the strategic aspects of the role e.g.   "Susan, What is your vision for the future of the information network?"   

Computers came in, I  learnt a lot about customer service, marketing, product knowledge  and management,   benefited from an excellent national training programme and appreciated the supportive network I was part of  across Scotland.

 
But the work environment does not stand still - restructuring took place and after 22 years in tourism,  I found myself facing redundancy - devastating!!  I felt "on the shelf",  "past my sell by date" etc. etc.   (I  could write at some length on that experience!) 

 Desk bound in paperwork

9.  Archive Assistant - Back to My Roots.
But fate was also on my side!  I had no wish to go back into a management role. Within six weeks of unemployment, I had a part-time job in the local studies department  of the library service - I had come full circle back to history and librarianship.
10. Enquiry Researcher:  My Final Post - Archives transferred to the Heritage Hub at Hawick as part of a new major town regeneration project in what had once  been the town's old cinema. My role involved dealing with the more in-depth enquiries through the remote research service - the majority of them  family history.   My previous training was not wasted,  as I presented public FH workshops, and staff training sessions,   served on an Ancestral Tourism committee and wrote a series of Source Lists that I was particularly proud of.   I was sorry to leave there, but retirement beckoned and it was time to go.

 The Heritage Hub, Hawick
 Home of theScotish Borders  Archive Service 

It was at the Heritage Hub that I was first introduced to the idea of blogging  - and here I am,  ten years later with my own blog! 

 How many people can say they found a job linked to a hobby? 

  We all know that family history  can be exciting, adventurous  - and never boring.                         So   -  being a librarian has served me very well indeed!

 Image courtesy of Pixabay

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