Career Choices

I am not job hunting, nor am I contemplating a choice of careers, but this morning I had a flash of insight that had I not followed my inclination to study art and painting, I might very well have become a Reference Librarian. I love looking things up. I’ve been doing it for years and never realized that I was training myself for that kind of job.

I think it started when I was in the 4th grade. The classroom had a huge dictionary on a stand underneath the windows. Students did not have to ask permission, but could quietly leave their desk to go to the dictionary. I did so frequently to get surreptitious glances outside the window. Sometimes I actually went to look up the meaning and spelling of a word.

The town library was my favorite ‘hang out’ place when I was in the lower grades. I loved watching the librarian finger thru the membership cards in such an efficient manner when she checked out my books. I also liked roaming thru the stacks to thumb thru a book at random. High school, students used the College library and I usually spent my daily assembly periods there. I actually studied or did research for a paper after browsing the latest National Geographic.

Computers have made it so easy to look things up. Surfing the Internet and using Google means I can look up things whenever I like. I am constantly amazed at the data available on any subject. I have become a ‘Researcher’ and never realized it!