When I tell people I’m a librarian, they usually say one of two things: “You’re so lucky that you get to read books all day” or “it must be nice to work in such a quiet and relaxing place.”
Dear reader, I hate to break it to you, but a librarian is not allowed to read all day and in 2026 you would be hard-pressed to find a silent library with a bespectacled librarian in a cardigan walking around shushing people. Cardigan? Yes. Spectacles? Sure. Shushing? No way.
So, then what does a librarian do all day? Well, it really depends on what type of librarian we are talking about. A children’s librarian, a circulation librarian, and a reference librarian all have vastly different sets of responsibilities and will spend their days doing completely different things.
As a Senior Reference & Adult Services Librarian my days are spent split between “on desk” and “off desk” time. When I’m on desk, that means I am stationed at the reference desk, ready to help the public with whatever they throw at me.
This is the area people go to when they have a research question, need help with technology, want assistance seeking out a more obscure item, need access to the Historical Room, or even just want...