Sacred Stacks: The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell, MLS

St. Jerome in his Study, 1480 - By Domenico Ghirlandaio - 
Italian Artist - Ognissanti, Florence, Italy - SAINTS - 1480 - fresco

DiBello, Amy

Maxwell, N. (2006). Sacred stacks: The higher purpose of libraries and librarianship. 

Chicago: American Library Association.

Nancy Kalikow Maxwell, MLS, M.A., is a Jewish librarian who maximized

her time during her tenure at the Catholic University, Barry University,

by getting a degree in Catholic theology.Her book Sacred Stacks: 
The Higher Purpose of Libraries and Librarianship is a treatise about the 
spiritual and sacred qualities of libraries and librarianship.

Maxwell begins with an examination of how many Americans identify as

"spiritual, but not religious". The sacred and secular blend of libraries is something

most library patrons have identified and expressed to me over the years.

I also consider libraries to be sacred and feel blessed to have meaningful work

in our admirable profession.

There are the patron saints of librarianship to look up to St. Jerome,

St. Catherine of Alexandria, and most notably St. Lawrence,

who would not surrender the archives to Imperial Roman officials in 258 BCE,

which resulted in his being grilled alive. St. Lawrence is famous for telling

his torturers that he was done on one side and to turn him over.

Sacred Stacks equates librarians as confessors through the art of the reference

interview and social justice warriors fiercely protecting patrons' privacy.

Melvil Dewey, creator of his famous Dewey decimal classification system

referred to the education of librarians as “the suburbs of the holy field.”

Librarians do not have supernatural powers, such as parting the Red Sea,

but their knowledge and instincts with cataloging, classification and

saving patrons from drowning in fruitless Google searches, earns Maxwell’s

accolades of “Representing the universe of knowledge through organized systems

for thousands of years.”

What Makes a Great Librarian?

Langstraat, Carina

Stephens, M. T., (2016). The heart of librarianship :Attentive, positive, and purposeful change.
       Chicago; 4: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association

Descriptive Summary:

This book is a collection of articles and insights from Michael Stephens, Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University.  Its title aptly describes the book's content:  what kind of heart is required to be an effective librarian? Among other things, the answers Stephens provides include a heart filled with empathy for not just patrons but other staff members and colleagues.  "For me", writes Stephens, "the heart of librarianship is learning.  It's a cyclical process of support, engagement, and discovery with deep roots in service, access, and freedom to pursue interests of all kinds".

Evaluation:

It’s hard not to let Stephens’s enthusiasm seep into you as your read this book.  He boldly confronts the stodged librarian waiting to retire who is uninterested in change, asking them to get out of the way so work can be done.   He asks new librarians to be risk takers, innovators, and creators.  He challenges one to proceed rather than sitting around and waiting for permission.  He asks for project management, planning skills, and the ability to make decisions when it comes to any new hire.  He wonders why academic papers have to be so boring, encouraging students to put their own personal slant into their work as a means of showing what they learned, understood, and comprehended. He refers over and over again to librarianship being the “ultimate service profession”, asking students why they are going into librarianship. 

If you are in library school and have occasional doubts late a night about why you are doing this, will you ever get a job in this field, and are their aspects to it that are less dry than your least favorite class, then I encourage you to read this book.  You'll walk away energized and simultaneously grounded about the profession you've chosen.