Why I Want to Be a Librarian

It's probably a huge cliché, but I want to be a librarian when I'm older. There's nothing else that I want to do; my degree that I'm studying is a Creative Writing degree, but I don't want to write as a living. I want to surround myself with books and make a living by helping other book lovers and also people who aren't big readers but still want to find things to read.

Thanks. I decided that I want to be a librarian when I was fourteen, but until now I hadn't really thought of why. So here are the reasons why I want to be a librarian when I grow up and become a real adult!

#1: I LOVE BOOKS

Obviously.

#2: I LIKE BEING AROUND BOOKS

While I don't think that books are 'sacred', I do like being around them. I once went away for a weekend and didn't bring my phone or any electronic devices because I didn't think that I'd really need them, so I spent almost the entire time reading books from the place's very small little library (I didn't bring a book either because I thought I'd be busy all weekend :/). There's just something about being around books that makes me feel peaceful. If you've got a bookcase in your house, I will definitely go look at it to see what you've got because I do think that the books somebody reads can say something about them. 

And while I'm on the topic of being around books, I love the atmosphere of libraries. It's so quiet, and it's awesome. Even though there isn't a strict rule that you have to be quiet in libraries these days, I just love how most people have carried on this tradition of not disturbing people while they're reading.

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#3: I LIKE ORGANISING BOOKS

Every book lover has organised their books in some specific system. Some people organise by colour, some people by series or size, or even genre. I organise my books in the exact same way as libraries and bookshops do: Alphabetical order by author's surname. Why? It just makes 100% sense to me because I find it difficult to find a book on a shelf that isn't in some kind of alphabetical order. I just get completely lost. And plus, there's just something satisfying at looking at a nicely organised and neat bookshelf.

#4: I LIKE HELPING PEOPLE FIND BOOKS

Sometimes recommending books to people isn't as simple as "THIS BOOK IS AMAZING YOU MUST READ IT RIGHT AWAY!!!!" because everybody has different tastes. A friend of mine always recommends paranormal romance books to me, but I'm not into paranormal romance. Some people don't like reading because they're not very confident (I personally know people who are like this) so throwing high fantasy and epic space operas at that will only put them off. I'd be telling a lie if I said that my job as a book blogger isn't to help people find new books to read.

When I was in school I was a library assistant, so not only did I help the librarian to put books back and clean up, I helped the other kids to find things that they wanted to read. Obviously there were a lot of kids who already knew what they wanted to read (one girl had read almost every single book in the library), but there are always people who are completely stuck and need a bit of help. Not everybody is in the know as much as book bloggers are, and that's okay because we can give them a hand.

#5: LIBRARIES ARE REALLY REALLY IMPORTANT!

My mum taught me to read when I was two years old and she got me a library card when I was around about three. I've had one ever since and even though I do like to buy and have my own copies of books these days, I do still use the library. Not everybody can afford to buy books all the time, and library cards don't cost a thing.

Libraries provide activities for people of all ages, and give us tons of information and stories and they don't charge you a penny (unless you damage something or you forget to return books). A couple of years ago, my dad decided to research our family tree, and if we couldn't use our local library we would have either spent a ton of money or been completely stuck.

Basically, libraries are awesome places that need to keep being funded and kept alive.