Finding Dickens (and more) at the Library
As I prepare to leave on my next great adventure, I find myself looking back on what this job meant to me. First, I rarely thought of it as a “job,” compared to others I have had. A job is someplace you have to go when you’d rather not, do things you don’t necessarily want to do, and pretend all the while there is nowhere else you’d rather be. Dover Public Library is special in that respect – more so than I can put into words, but I will do my best.
The word “work” carries with it a weight, an almost physical drag. Even hearing the word aloud sounds like a grunt of effort, and I have had some jobs in which the connotations of the word were a truthful echo of what it felt like to be there.
Not that labor and effort are a bad thing – far from it! But in the “spirit?” of the season, I am somewhat morbidly reminded of Marley’s ghost, heavy with chains, moaning with the weight of his duty. How many people do you think are out there that feel that way every day they go to work? But they do it anyway, and I applaud their fortitude.
I also feel a twinge of guilt because my library job bore no relation to that tortured soul clanking in chains, even at its most challenging. Why? There is a spirit of generosity that exists at Dover Public Library, and I’m sure most everyone who has interacted there has felt it. It doesn’t emanate from only one person, but infuses everyone with its light. It doesn’t only show up for the brief weeks of the “holiday spirit” season, but persists despite the ups and downs we personal experience.
I may arrive on my worst days feeling a bit like Scrooge, shoulders hunched and scowling, forgetting the important things for whatever misery dogs my heels. But once inside for a while, “working,” a marvelous transformation occurs, and I feel more like Scrooge after his visitation, leaning out the window with a goofy grin, exulting in the feeling of giving and receiving joy.
Okay, that might be a little hyperbolic, but I want to impress that it is no small thing.
Helping people untie whatever knots are distressing them provides its own relief. Kindness is infectious. Taking the time to listen to a problem, offer a solution or maybe even just some small direction affects everyone in a positive way. Our own burdens lighten a bit, and we are all able to meet the next challenge with a smile and a kind word. And we can be sure that the next challenge will come, as sure as day follows night, because everyone needs something, and odds are good the library either has it or can point you toward it.
I’ve come to think of librarians as kin to the three Christmas Spirits who came to Scrooge: We believe knowledge has power, we can be formidable when we put our heads together, but we don’t claim to know everything, even though we are more than happy to guide you to your own knowledge.
It has been a privilege to be a part of this group of wonderful people, and what I learned here will always live in my heart. To borrow a memorable line from Dickens (who can of course be found at the library), God bless us, everyone!
Claire Kandle