Reflections on Four Decades in a Hospital Library

摘要

The last day on the job the librarian worked late. It seemed to have always been that way. There were so many needs, so many promises to keep, and so much to learn. Forty-three years prior the author possessed a brand new Master of Library Science degree and no relevant job experience. Job opportunities in his hometown and the mostly rural area surrounding it were scarce. A voracious reader from an early age, he had considered a variety of science careers from astronomy to paleontology, rejecting them based on a low aptitude for mathematics and a dismal experience with high-school chemistry. A teaching career was unthinkable for a young person congenitally shy. Going to library school seemed the answer to an unspoken prayer for a bibliophile with a modest talent for English-language communication.