The Librarian

In my opinion, a children's librarian should have a general knowledge of children and how they develop. She should be kind and gentle and be genuinely interested in and enthusiastic about children. She should strive to foster a love for books, reading and learning in the children and parents that visit the library.

Sadly, the librarian at our local library does not fit these criteria. She doesn't seem to have an understanding of child development or what can or cannot be expected of young children. She comes across as rigid and very rule driven. I understand rules are necessary, but she goes so far as to make a visit to the library uncomfortable. And, she doesn't hide the fact that her least favourite time of the day is when school lets out and children file into the library to be tutored or check out books. Part of me thinks she would be happier if children avoided her section of the library altogether.

The thing that irks me the most about this woman is her unwillingness to be flexible and accommodating when it comes to childrens' participation in the library programs that she runs.

Let me take a moment to describe the programs I am referring to. The baby program is geared to children ages 0-36 months and the toddler program is geared to 2-year olds. You might notice that there is some overlap in the ages for which the programs are targeting. Children between 24 and 36 months have the option of attending either program. Interestingly, a significant amount of the content of the programs overlap as well. The 30-minute baby program has children sitting in one place for the duration of the session. The librarian sits at the front and begins the session by telling parents that they are to retrieve their children if they wander too close to her. In other words, the children are not welcome to get anywhere near the books, her puppets or anything else she may have around her that may inevitably tempt them. She then proceeds to read a story (using puppets at times), sing songs, pass out bells for the children to ring and pass around a drum on which the children are to drum out the syllables of their name. We have attended this program a number of times and, in my opinion, this program seems to be geared toward children that are not yet crawling or walking and who are content to sit in one place for that period of time. The toddler program is much the same with the exception of the books, songs and instruments that are used.

Back to my rant...I, along with other moms/caregivers of children under the age of two, have approached this librarian about bringing our children to the toddler program for various reasons. For some it is because the children are developmentally ready for the program. For example, the children are crawling or walking and have difficulty sitting in one place for 30 minutes. For others it is because the children nap at the time the baby program takes place, but they would still like to get their children involved. In all of our cases, the librarian discouraged us from bringing our children stating "they really need to be mobile to participate in the toddler program" as her reason (meanwhile the children are crawling/walking/running around the library). Obviously, I understand that it would be inappropriate to bring a 2 month old to a program designed for 2-year olds, but she shouldn't be overly concerned about a walking 15- month old.

The library is a public place (and the programs are free) and parents and children should be able to come and go as they please without being made to feel like they are unwelcome. If parents are trying to get their children involved in programs that are going to be beneficial to them, they should be encouraged to do so especially in this day and age when there are so many children out there struggling to learn how to read and write.