Hey, if we wanted you to know that information, we would have bought something on it.
Who goes to a library with 10 different titles on the Napoleonic Wars? Well, mine does, but it’s really big. But a local branch library will be lucky to have 3-4 different ones.
In my library system, the holds queue for “The Da Vinci Code” used to be over 1000, but it’s dropped down to 285. The next Harry Potter book will get a lot of requests.
Somehow I think it’s so they don’t look like a glorified warehouse employee. Take away the degree and give them a forklift and you wouldn’t know the difference, except by the pay.
Perhaps it would be of more benefit to us all if we change things slightly.
That is to say why can’t these people just do one day at school and 4days on the job learning an apprenticeship in BOOKBINDING? So that at the end of 4yrs they would be of more use towards the maintenance and running of the library. And they would still have a 2yr head start. Any librarians out there wish to denouce BOOKBINDING? It’s a dying art and who better to pick it up? How many Librarians wish to say that it’s beneath them?
oh&s , I suggest you read the 41 posts prior to yours and you’ll see the difference between “warehouse worker” and librarian.
As far as bookbinding goes, it’s a perfectly good, and entirely different occupation. And I’m not sure that you should be shouting about it.
Sorry, the idling of my forklift made me forget that this is GQ. Here’s a description of the profession and future outlook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
I second the good Cap’n’s sentiment, and also want to point out that most librarians I know also do bookbinding.
So just hush up now. People are trying to read.