Greetings from the Stacks,

My name is Molly, but pretty much everyone calls me Miss Molly. Including the parents. Including my staff. Sometimes parents call me Molly and then appologize and quickly call me Miss Molly. It’s OK. I won’t be offended if you just call me Molly. But I’m kind of like a celebrity among the children. So really, it’s like my stage name. Miss Molly.

One time, I was speaking in front of an auditorium of kids. With a microphone. The teacher introduced me as Ms. Johnson. I said, you can just call me Miss Molly.

“Ahem…. MS. JOHNSON will now talk to us about the Summer Reading program at the library.”

“Hey guys – guess what? Pretty soon, I’m getting married and so I will no longer be MS. JOHNSON. Instead, I will be MOLLY GARLICK.”

Silence.

“Miss Molly will now talk to us about the Summer Reading program at the library.”

That’s better.

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a librarian. My mom is a librarian. So was my grandmother for a bit. I went to visit my mom at the library one day during my junior year of college. The director asked if I wanted to work there. I said sure. And that is how it all started. Pretty exciting, isn’t it?

I am now an assistant director and head of youth services. At my last library, I was acting director for about 8 months. I consider that pretty good, since I haven’t hit 30 yet. I may complain about my job. About the crazy people. About the architect who thought a “little door” would be cute. About the children who think it’s OK to poop in the play house. But really, I do actually love my job.

Libraries are cool. There’s no getting around it. And there are some pretty cool librarians out there trying to do a whole lot with a whole lot of nothing. That’s dedication. Because we don’t get paid well. Sometimes we have to shovel the walkway. Or clean up the poop in the play house. or on the rug. or on the couch. And we deal with outraged patrons who have to pay a fine for something they got to borrow for free. Or the patrons who have nothing better to do than complain about anything and everything, yet they are here ALL THE TIME. Sometimes its a thankless job – like when someone says they wish they could work here and just read all day long……um, yeah. More on that later. But sometimes you are the person who introduces a kid to A Wrinkle in Time or Anne of Green Gables or Charlotte’s Web and it’s all worth it. When that 2 year old with all the snot is screaming and crying and kicking his father in the face because he doesn’t want to the leave the Children’s Room….you know you’ve done something pretty great.