How I became a librarian: the bumpy road to MLSuccess

Information Outlook, Jan, 2005 by Donna M. Fisher

Should I find a map? Look in a book? Do a Google search? What was a province? For that matter, what was Canada? And what in the world was I doing sitting at this reference desk pretending to be a librarian?

A sympathetic colleague realized my befuddlement and quickly rescued me. The ultimate humiliation occurred when I disconnected the caller before giving him the correct answer. Obviously I still had a long way to go. My expertise gradually improved, until I was locating answers in the World Almanac and teaching university students how to use subscription databases with the ease and professionalism I had longed for. The long awaited master's degree was almost mine!

After graduation I accepted a wonderful position as a law firm librarian. The job was everything I dreamed of, full of challenges and responsibility. I expected all of my foibles to be behind me. But as with most things in life, there have been other bumpy (literally!) moments along the way.

One morning my first chore was to deliver 50 two-volume sets of books to the attorneys on the 15th floor of our office building, one floor below the library. With any luck, it would only take about 30 minutes to distribute the books, leaving the rest of the day for my more difficult tasks. I neatly arranged the heavy books on the sturdy library cart and headed for the elevator, marveling at my efficiency and organization.

It took only a few moments for the elevator to reach my destination. I carefully began pushing the cart through the open doors, the clicking of the wheels barely breaking the silence of the early hour.

Suddenly the wheels on the cart became caught in the small gap that had been created when the elevator car didn't align exactly with the floor. Before I realized what was happening, the cart began ever so slowly to tip over. I grimaced as I tried in vain to rebalance it, but the weight of the books was too much. The cart over-turned and loudly crashed, books tumbling everywhere.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

I looked around to see if anyone had spotted me, but luckily I saw no one. If I was speedy I could remedy this embarrassing disaster before anyone noticed.

Trying to stay calm, I firmly pushed the now empty cart out of the elevator car and squatted down to retrieve the books. I had only picked up a few volumes when I realized this plan was definitely not going to work. Within moments the elevator alarm began blaring with a piercing sound that surely could be heard on every floor of the 40-story office building. I would have to move more quickly.

Having lost the luxury of being able to carefully rearrange the books, I began shoveling them off the floor faster and faster. I was determined to clean up the mess before security raced upstairs to investigate the ruckus. I tried to ignore the screaming alarm as I haphazardly piled the books back on the cart.

Then the elevator doors began closing. No time to lose. I frantically pressed the button to re-open the doors but each time I did so they only stayed open a few seconds before starting to close again. This put me in the precarious position of having to use my left hand to repeatedly press the elevator button to keep the doors open, while throwing the books out of the elevator as fast as I could with my right hand. The books scattered everywhere. In the meantime the alarm seemed to be getting even louder.