Catch-up Time 2! Tues, July 8th: Barbican Library and St. Paul's Cathedral Library

Tuesday, 8 July, 2014

Today was especially disparate in terms of the levels of excitement I felt. The morning was glorious, the afternoon…a letdown at best.

Tuesday morning we went to the Barbican Lending and Music libraries, both of which were wonderful. We were split into two groups, and mine was led by Jonathan. He was

hands-down the coolest librarian I have ever met! His enthusiasm was palpable, and he was on fire with the jokes. I have always appreciated subtle wit, and Jonathan had that in spades. He felt like a Howard Hawkes character, and I mean that as a compliment. He showed all of us how to be a librarian, and you can really tell he loves his job. First, he led us to the children’s library, and you can see me in Dr. Welsh’s photograph on the side. (We're in the Children's Library.) 

The children’s librarian—I forgot her name—was a lively woman who also took a great deal of pride in her job. The children’s area was warm and welcoming, and I’m certain children enjoy coming there.

After that, Jonathan gave us a tour of the adult section of the library and explained how the library worked there. Due to Barbican’s being a building serving many purposes, there is a great deal of noise coming from below. Personally, I found this endearing because it gave the library some character; it felt like a community center, and a welcoming one at that. The selection of books in the adult part of the library was strong, and I just had to check out their Stephen King selection, which was substantial. Much like Richland Library back home, they have a self-service check out area that reads the books as one puts them on the screen. One difference, though, is Barbican has stamps for the patrons to use in their books. Jonathan pointed out that people change the date—often making it incorrect! I chuckled thinking about how Americans must mess up the date by putting the month first!

After the tour of the adult books section, Jonathan took us to the staff room where he and the other staff had cookies (or “biscuits”) and lemonade ready for us. He had us all sit on the couches and told us some very amusing stories about the library and some interesting patrons who have walked through the doors. The stories probably aren’t appropriate to be shared online, so I’ll suffice it to say they were amusing!

While we were snacking, the woman who runs the entire library came in and we all ended up having a very serious—and depressing—discussion about the lack of funding and subsequent disappearance of libraries in the UK. The United States has the same problem, but Jonathan said he thought the difference was the ALA (American Library Association) has done a better job really fighting for libraries, whereas the British equivalent CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) does not fight for libraries at all. The director said sadly that the library may have to close if funding continues to dissipate, which almost made me cry. I thought the Barbican was a lovely place and a real asset to London; should they lose that library, an integral of the community’s information services and cultural preservation will be lost—a detrimental blow to London, indeed.

After that grim discussion, Jonathan changed the subject and then took us to the music library. We got to meet the music librarian and see their collection, which is vast. Indeed, the Barbican Music Library is one of the biggest music collections internationally. They have movies related to music, concert DVDs, CDs, sheet music, books about music—all kinds of stuff. I’ve visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s library catalogue (I have not been there in person), and I kept wondering how the Barbican collection would measure against theirs.

At the end, we had a chance to wander the library briefly alone. Two other girls—Jessica and Ansley—and I went up to Jonathan and straight up told him we wanted to work for him. I think he was amused, as were the staff working the circulation desk. In fact, after Jonathan walked away for a moment, one of the men at the desk overheard us saying we wish we could take him back to America with us. The man walked over and said, “If you wish to take Jonathan with you, you are welcome to him. Please take him! I know how you can get him through airport security.” Ha ha! Everyone we met there was kind, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and, in Jonathan’s case, funny. I had a wonderful time.

The afternoon, however, was a different story.

We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral Library and met the librarian. He refused to speak above a whisper, even when we were several stories above the cathedral and the only ones there. I could barely hear him and found him condescending. He was especially rude to me when I misheard a question he asked. What I thought he said was, “Which American author who wrote the longest sentences known to man left for England in the late nineteen thirties?” I said, “T.S. Eliot,” who did defect.  

“Um, no,” he said, “T.S. Eliot might have been alive in the late nineteenth century, but he did not defect then.”

“Oh, Henry James?”

“Oh, yes. At least you got one right.”

“Okay…,” I said.

“What? What? Hmmmm.” Then he moved on. I tuned out much of what he said after that.

He took us to many parts of the library, which was interesting, but he did not really talk about the library nor its collection. He talked a bit about acquisition. Honestly, though, I could barely hear him. I was grateful when the tour was over and left immediately.

St. Paul’s is a beautiful cathedral, but I don’t really care to visit it again. The Barbican, though…well, Jonathan gave me his business card after I thanked him for the visit and asked us all to come back and ask him questions. I’m trying to think of some questions and an excuse to go back.

Overall, it was a satisfying—and, in more ways than one, educational—day.