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A review by bookwoman1967
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
4.0
Well, as a librarian, how can I not like this?
I do take exception with a couple of Orlean's assertions:
1.) That librarians "make a decent living." The entry-level salary in Los Angeles may be $60,000, but that is L.A., with its attendant cost of living, and elsewhere in the country entry-level is nowhere near that. Many director's salaries in small midwestern libraries are nowhere above the $40,000 range, and I cannot make a decent living in a public library without a second job.
2. That most librarians around the country are well-organized, vocal, and opinionated. I'll definitely give her last two adjectives, but again, unions outside of big cities like L.A. are rare.
My other quibble with the book is more in the advertising; it's given to seem like it covers more of the 1986 fire when it's largely about the L.A. library, its history, and the context of that in the world of libraries. As a librarian, again, I really shouldn't complain about that. Some of it read like it was right out of Library School Theory 101, but I suspect the material was new to Orleans and probably new to a lot of readers as well.
I was fascinated by the history of the library's architecture and its interesting librarians. My favorite quote is from librarian Althea Warren's 1935 speech that librarians should "read as a drunkard drinks or as a bird sings or a cat sleeps or a dog responds to an invitation to go walking, not from conscience or training..." I also adored the chapter on the library's phone reference department, which gives a spot-on picture of the work life of a reference librarian: 'Princenthal hung up her phone and shook her head. "Why would someone call here and ask, 'Which is more evil, grasshoppers or crickets?'" she said to no one in particular."
I do take exception with a couple of Orlean's assertions:
1.) That librarians "make a decent living." The entry-level salary in Los Angeles may be $60,000, but that is L.A., with its attendant cost of living, and elsewhere in the country entry-level is nowhere near that. Many director's salaries in small midwestern libraries are nowhere above the $40,000 range, and I cannot make a decent living in a public library without a second job.
2. That most librarians around the country are well-organized, vocal, and opinionated. I'll definitely give her last two adjectives, but again, unions outside of big cities like L.A. are rare.
My other quibble with the book is more in the advertising; it's given to seem like it covers more of the 1986 fire when it's largely about the L.A. library, its history, and the context of that in the world of libraries. As a librarian, again, I really shouldn't complain about that. Some of it read like it was right out of Library School Theory 101, but I suspect the material was new to Orleans and probably new to a lot of readers as well.
I was fascinated by the history of the library's architecture and its interesting librarians. My favorite quote is from librarian Althea Warren's 1935 speech that librarians should "read as a drunkard drinks or as a bird sings or a cat sleeps or a dog responds to an invitation to go walking, not from conscience or training..." I also adored the chapter on the library's phone reference department, which gives a spot-on picture of the work life of a reference librarian: 'Princenthal hung up her phone and shook her head. "Why would someone call here and ask, 'Which is more evil, grasshoppers or crickets?'" she said to no one in particular."