'The Librarians'
Blog

Awwww. As Frances and Terry drive off into the dusk and another series of The Librarians draw to a close, what better time for a little cogitation on what we’ve learnt? For a lot of us, the fact of the setting of the series was our focus in the first series. I don’t know if you are like me and now find the setting is not really front of mind anymore. As much as I loved the work and creativity that went into that setting - the culture pod, the huge map of Australia, the posters from assorted ALIA campaigns on the walls - the show wasn’t about libraries, it was about a bunch of people.

Which is exactly what the writers told us the first time round. I prefer not to think I am a slow learner, but I do now get that better than I did last time when there was so much conversation around the roles, the qualifications and the things that went on in the library. I guess we were all a bit new to it and of course, like workers implicated in every other such setting (think council staff dealing with the biting sarcasm in Grass Roots, dog lovers portrayed mercilessly in Best in Show, the long suffering Olympics volunteers watching the too-close-to-the-truth-for-comfort reportage style of The Games back in 2000, and more recently, public servants cringing under the scrutiny of The Hollowmen), we had our buttons pushed. But good. (And frankly, as familiar as we all are with Yes, Minister, perhaps we ought to have known better!)

To be honest, I am not sure where this line of thought will take me - I’m still thinking it. But I am glad a library finally made it into a tv series just because it got people talking. I like the way Robyn and Wayne used this and their experiences in libraries. I love that they and the whole crew ended up adoring the generosity and support of the library community in Victoria for the show. They were amazed by us as a ‘breed’. They may well continue to share good and happy library stories with their friends and if they do, then that’s great for libraries everywhere.

And the writers and crew were very generous to us too. We had ALIA members on set as extras, we had signed merchandise to give away, we had footage to share and special messages from the cast. I’d like to thank everyone involved for all of that. So, on to the next thing for all of us. May all our new friends in tv land continue your emerging love affair with all things library, and may all the folk in libraryland enjoy your memories of fleeting stardom!

Woohoo! Trust me, you will understand tonight. Ah, those conference dinner memories..

While dealing with the issue of a child banned from all the local private schools, Frances has voiced the opinion that she doesn’t approve of the public school system in part because she works in the public library system and she’s “seen what goes through that system” (possibly slightly inaccurate quote there, my bad, but you get my drift.)

 So work with me here, I am going to toddle down memory lane for a sentence or two. Cos if there’s one thing in this world I love, it’s public libraries and all the madness that goes on in them. With the possible exception of working out staff rosters.

 That special buzz when you know you’ve really helped someone and made their day better. The shared enthusiam for a new author or book in a series. The lengths some people go to to hide a book so others won’t get it (ok, that’s maddening but at least we know they’re passionate!) The way you simply never know what’s going to happen today or tomorrow - and sometimes you’re not too sure what happened yesterday. But we do know that most of the time, for most of the people - and this goes for libraries of all types I reckon - some library person somewhere has done something helpful, useful and maybe even downright inspiring. Every day there’s a chance to change someone’s life for the better - and I include finding them a new book by their favourite author right alongside ‘midwife-ing’ a spectacular moment in research in this category.

 Folks, it’s the coolest job in the world.