I love librarians

Ispent yesterday with more than 5,000 librarians.

A few were library aides, and some were library trustees. But the thing they all had in common was libraries.

I never thought much about how libraries work, probably because they work so well. No matter where I am, if I walk through the door of a library, I know more or less what to expect. The staff will be helpful. Everyone will be eager to answer any question I have. No one will be in too big a hurry to help. Everything will be pretty much as I remember it as an 8-year-old.

When I was in elementary school, I would go to my school library and get help from Mrs. Shau. She rode a bicycle to work, was endlessly patient, read stories to us in the library and recommended books. It was her ability to recommend books that I remember best.

Because I didn’t know what to read as a child. I still don’t know – that’s the truth. Finding a book that I want to read is the hardest thing about reading, and Mrs. Shau simply removed that obstacle and let me fill my book bag with books.

Backpacks had yet to be invented when I was in elementary school. They were a genius innovation which probably would have allowed me to read even more books. When I attended elementary school, I had a blue book bag with red vinyl trim, which carried my lunch (which got smushed) and my math homework (which I never did) and my library books (which were the only thing that mattered).

I read every book Mrs. Shau recommended and came back for more. Since that day, I have loved librarians. And yesterday, I got to meet a lot of them as I signed copies of “Loon Point,” at a booth my publisher hosted at one of the largest library conventions in the country.

The librarians were not there only for books. They need lots of things, as it turns out, from furniture to office supplies to inventory systems. They come to these conventions to hear interesting talks on important subjects. But it seemed to me that they liked getting free books more than anything else.

I was at the welcome reception, so the doors had just opened when I started signing free books. There were tables full of food and lots of interesting things to see, but the librarians lined up for books. I had never done anything like this, so I didn’t know what to expect.

“Are you a librarian?” I would ask.

“Yes!” they almost always said – and every single one of them sounded at least a little proud.

“Oh, good!” I’d answer. And I’d sign, “I love librarians! Carrie Classon” inside their book. I don’t know how many books I signed, but there was a whole shelf filled with them, and I signed until we ran out of books.

Then a romance writer took my spot, and a stack of her books was taken off the shelf, and the line of librarians kept coming.

It was over before I knew it. And I was a little sad. Because, honestly, I think I could meet librarians all day long and never get tired of it.

“I love librarians!” I told them, one after another.

“We love writers!” they told me. And I’m sure that is true. But while they might love the books we write, I don’t know if it’s possible for them to love writers more than I loved Mrs. Shau and a book bag full of unread books.

Till next time,

Carrie