h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Found this in the LA Times. It is about a librarian in Mississippi who has done his duty and has finally had enough. Salud!

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-librarian23sep23,1,6958660.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

But it didn't actually mention his great accomplishments. I was waiting to hear about 'em. Of course, you're bound to say that lasting 30 years in that job is his biggest... Where d'you supposed he'll go?

Did you read all 6 pages of the article? He's getting married. And his literacy programs are accomplishment enough.

Oh, 6 pages? I only read the first, I guess.

Hypatia, can you invite him on to hootoo? I'd love to cyber shake his hand.

I wonder if he has a good smellfungus story too

Bravo for Wise. Hope his life is good in retirement. I read the whole article. The only thing that bugged me was on the first page, where they talked about people in line at the store or bank asking him to read stuff to them, telling the same lie "I forgot my glasses." Well, I can't tell you how often I have had to ask that question in the bank or the store because, well, I forgot my glasses. And it isn't a lie, and I definitely know how to read. Other than that, illiteracy is rife and a terrible thing to have so rampant in this society with "No Child left behind."

I haven't had time to read all of that, but he sounds like a fantastic man and a credit to our profession. He deserves to have a happy, relaxing retirement.

thought it was you retiring, for a bit there Hyp. Which couldn't be.

I knew a guy who went to adult literacy classes for two years to improve his spelling.

One reason was that he was too embarassed to accept an offered promotion at work that would involve filling in worksheets.

The other was that he cut a deal with his teenage kids. His son wasn't doing well at school and was saying that if his Dad did ok without much education so could he. His daughter was doing well, and he wanted to keep it that way. So the deal was that he stuck it out at his classes and they did their homework.

He deserved a lot of respect. It wasn't easy for him, especially with most of the class being special needs young adults. He did it with good grace and took it seriously.

Mr Wise fought the good fight. One hopes his successors do him justice.

My mother does literacy tutoring here. She has tutored several people to the point where they got their GEDs. Keeps her young at 78. We have a friend who was illiterate until the contractor he worked for wanted to make him a foreman. When the company found out he could not read they paid for literacy tutoring and also gave him a bonus when he could read and made him foreman in the meantime. Quite a lot nicer thing than the chicken place that fired the one who couldn't read. Very short sighted of them.

Being a Librarian seems to be a stressfull job....................

No, it's not. Never ever.

It's stressful and rewarding, exciting and boring, all at the same time.

Right


I was wondering what so of job would you do if you wer'nt do the job your doing already

I really have no idea. I think most people who work in libraries for more than a couple of years find that they can't imagine doing anything else. You just *are* a librarian. Which is a scary thought!

Back in my near-destitute studio-apartment days in Munich, I practically lived at the local (English language; US Army) library.
I became acquainted with the whole of the sci-fi section.

I would sit in 'my' armchair, by a window, sometimes reading by sunset's illumination.

The smell of a library is like no other...it captivates the soul, at its own level.

Alas, to dream in a library and to work in one are incongruent for me.

I wish I was the one retiring, Waz. I'm too poor to retire at the moment.

Libraries do have a way of getting under your skin. But so much of my job is general administration that I don't get to be an actual librarian very often.

That happened to me in Local Government - I advanced to the stage where I doing all admin and didn't even have a drawing board. I got early retirement and set up in practice on my own when I went on to do 20 years of engineering design as a consultant. Drawing board and computer kept me very happy and was much more lucrative. And the biggest job I ever did was when I was a consultant.

RJR, all of the jobs I can think of that I'd like to do if I wasn't a librarian are so impractical as to make them impossibilities.

Jazz, I don't think I'm qualified to be a consultant. It would be nice to be able to work from home at something. But I can't imagine what that would be. Until my mortgage is paid off, I'll need a dependable income. As much as I'd like for it to be otherwise, it looks like I'll need to work until full retirement age, which is another 8.5 years.

My ideal job would be to sit and paint all day and drink tea. I've yet to find someone who'll pay me to do that.

So interesting..I read every last word..I hope he will really enjoy Life,with a capital L..!!.............. ... .. .