THE LIBRARIAN AND THE SULLEN BLANK PAPER
—from Rattle #75, Spring 2022
Tribute to Librarians
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Martin Willitts Jr.: “I was never the kind of librarian that shushes. I was probably the first male children’s librarian (1970) and faced reverse sexism (‘something must be wrong with you if you work with children’). I did puppetry, told fairy tales from memory, played and sang music, and was great at teaching crafts. I worked in large libraries dealing with flashers and the homeless, medium libraries dealing with people trying to censure every book including the Bible, and small libraries where everyone knows what everyone else is reading and wants to complain about their neighbors. I was every position in a library: children’s librarian; cataloger; reference librarian; genealogist; museum librarian; adult librarian; branch head in large library system; library director dealing with board members that were control freaks; law librarian clerking for a federal judge; and state librarian as a trainer of other trainers. I won an international award for a children’s program. During Covid, former children, now adults, contacted me, telling me they remember when I taught them the ‘hand washing song’ and put blacklight on their hands and face. The song was important during the early days of Covid. They wanted me to tell stories to them and their children. I found myself still performing as an old-fashioned storyteller. When I go to libraries, instead of the old date due stamp, I now receive a print out. I miss the smell of library paste in the morning. I miss showing people how to find answers in a book. I miss tying or untying tangled children’s shoelaces. I even miss the flashers and the people off their medications.” (web)
