Three wee Italian librarians

Elena @f.ele.89.na (Instagram) 

“Oh, you work in a library? Isn’t it boring?”
So many people have asked me this. Every time, I have to keep myself from looking horrified and instead, I smile and politely say, again: 'No, it is not a boring job. Every day you learn something new, open your mind, widen your horizon.' - I breath.
'No, I am not being cheesy. I truly believe this: I experience it every time a patron asks me for a suggestion for a new book. I experience it when a patron asks me to help to find information about stuff I have little or no knowledge about. I experience it when a patron calls me from a different country, enquiring about their ancestors, that once lived in the area but then moved far away.' I breath more deeply, almost let go of a sigh, but I am polite.
'I can assure you that no, it is most certainly not a boring job.'

I am Elena, one of the three librarians-musketeers (Or Musketarians? Libreteers?) and I will keep you entertained with this blog. Like Laura and Luca, I come from Italy and moved to Scotland some years ago. After realising that becoming a lawyer was not going to cut it for me, only just after graduating, and crying blood and tears for 5 years of Law School and 2 years of traineeship, I decided to try something different, somewhere else. And something I felt I would have really enjoyed. Because, let’s face it, you are going to spend most part of your life working, so wouldn’t it be better to do something you like?

So I thought, how about a place I visited, savoured and longed for several times? A place I fell in love with: the culture, the people, nature and, most of it, the weather. Why not Scotland? A few working experiences in hospitality, helped me save enough money to attend the Master in Information and Library Studies at Strathclyde University. Oh yeas, babe, I decided that when I grow up I want to be a librarian. And let me tell you, this has been the best choice I ever made in my life, maybe second to coming here to Scotland! But I am not so sure.

I am a cliche librarian: I love books and I love reading. But I told you already: I do believe this job helps opening your mind, and this includes (but not limits to) finding yourself reading something you would have never thought of reading, just because a patron recommended it to you (and very animatedly!) and you feel you have to give it a try. Among them, I’ve read Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss and Do android dream of electric sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

I am very lucky to be working in a nice, wee public library in a town between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I get to really understand and appreciate the importance of this place for the community: we offer a tangible place for finding information and offering learning opportunities, we are community hubs, we are safe environments and I find myself wondering how would it be for our patrons if the library should shut. But we will talk about this in the future.

No, I told you already! Our is not a boring job. Nope, we don’t only stamp books.

Luca @lucafois8 (Twitter)

Three Before Midnight.
I guess this could be a very pertinent title for my introduction. And so, it would be The Night of Wishes or His Dark Materials or Stiff. I just notice I might look a bit morbid and dark if compared to the others here, but recently met adventure companions called me ‘the new flamboyant guy that works in the library’. So definitely I do not look that grim in real life! As for the flamboyant bit, I found that extreme!

Ok, Ok. I stop digressing. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Luca and I have loved libraries since that first time in my hometown. Scarcely 5000 souls. My librarian, her raspy voice from too much smoking, raven black short hair and a splash of makeup let me get away, a partner in crime, with Desperation in my backpack (again, I am not a negative person, I like dark topics, maybe). You might think it is a not appropriate book for a 10-year-old, but secrecy, understanding, and breaking the rules renewed my dwindling love for reading. And I remember the long conversations: her vitriolic comments on fast literature, with books thrown on the floor; the unconcealed dislike towards the imperious technology progress; the suggestions of books on the more disparate topic. She was one of my role models when I was young and since then I always look back to these memories when it feels I do not have time for reading. That’s all crap, guys. You make time for it if you want. [Sorry if this sounds harsh, better you get to know me before it's too late]. I recently started working in a school library in the capital of Scotland after a long period in a school on the West Coast. How did I get here, in Scotland? It is still a mystery to me: I remember I studied Japanese and French, a lifetime ago. Could not find peace of mind in Italy and moved here with my partner, both looking for a more lively work environment where we could improve as individuals and help people around us. Oh, I loved it here and still do. And one day I remembered how much I enjoyed working in my university library in Venice, used the money I saved from working in a kitchen, and enrolled in the Library and Information Studies master at Strathclyde. And now here I am.

I enjoy working in schools: kids are both challenging and rewarding, smart and in need of someone to help them cope with hardness in their school days, being this related to bullying, studying or anything I cannot name. I always tried to make the library a safe space, a port in which they can cast their anchors for a while, rest, talk, meet with each others.

I believe in the value of school libraries, and libraries in general, but I always feel I have to fight to prove the value of what we do: inviting authors, promoting literature for pleasure, teaching information literacy, helping kids to find confidence in reading, organising fun activities like escape rooms or board game clubs, providing a space in which to feel safe and allowing them to express themselves, listening to them in an absolutely non-judgemental way. Nope, that does not count: kids these days don’t read books, so what is the point in having a school library? Ah, true, I forgot. We only stamp books.

Laura @LauraFCagnazzo (Twitter)

“Who am I? Jean Valjean¹!!!” - some would sing. Well, I am not that famous, yet - grins - I am afraid. I am just a little librarian who tries to work hard every day, to learn new things every day, to build her career in what she thinks is one of the most important jobs in the world.

We are not going to talk here about why the three of us (the “magnificient three” authors of this shiny new blog) think that libraries are important, because that is going to be the topic of one of our upcoming posts (we have got lots of interesting ideas, you just wait and see). Today, I must contain myself and explain to this wonderful and (we hope) very diversified audience who am I.

My name is Laura and I work in an academic library in Scotland. I come from a very distant and tropical country (Italy) and I have decided to make the UK my new home a few years ago. Let’s not mention here how I struggle to feel home right now in the UK, even if I love Scotland and Scottish people. We will probably talk at some point about that dreaded word starting with a shivering sound - "Br" - and ending with a way out - "exit". I still believe that, despite the current uncertainty, this country has more to offer to me, and to us, than my own, at least in terms of professional opportunities (sad, I know). Therefore, I am here, trying my best to build my career as an information professional. Or, if you prefer, a librarian. Or both!

Looking back, I have fond memories of the small public library in the town where I moved in during the summer, when I was a teenager, as being my relief from the isolation of having no friends to hang out with. I am not sure if there was an exact moment when I decided to be a librarian, but I have always felt welcome and secure in libraries. You do know what I mean, right? During my university years, I probably started considering this as a career. There were, along the way, an internship in an academic library, a (not successful) attempt to study librarianship at the Vatican School of Library Science, lots and lots of volunteering in public libraries in London, my first job as a library assistant, the MSc in Information & Library Studies in Scotland and my current role (with a couple of other non-library-related-jobs in between: I still need to eat, sometimes).

I remember the moment I got my first library assistant post: I was pushing my trolley in Asda and I received The Phone Call. Oh, guys! You could have not made me happier telling me that I won billions at the lottery (I think...). All the years of trying and being rejected and having to do jobs I, erm, felt they were not my cup of tea, to be polite, I felt the weight of all those years lifted off my shoulders. Happiness, that is what I felt after The Phone Call. That is why I sometimes get annoyed when people working in my field say:

"You know, I’ve actually become a librarian by chance. It’s not that I planned it"

Really??? I have been fighting for years to be "just a librarian". I know though that after you become a librarian, whatever your initial plans were, your life changes as you enter this community of skillful, helpful, knowledgeable people. Of course, there are exceptions. I acknowledge that not every day is joy-filled, unicorns and sweetie pies. But I do like to think of us, information professionals, as an army of people who love to help. Otherwise, let’s be honest, why would we want to be librarians if not to help others? Are we only stamping books?

Stamp. Stamp Stamp! Right in your forehead!
Cheerio (for now!)

¹Jean Valjean is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables