Librarians don't love books

I recently got my masters degree and am now a Master of Arts with specialization in Library and Information science. Sounds impressive doesn't it! Well, it basically means I'm a librarian (a fancy librarian though!). So I've had a few small jobs, a few hours here and there at different libraries when they needed temps. But I recently started my first full-time job! I've now worked there for two weeks and it feels good! :D

While I don't boast abundant experience I've come to a realization with regards to librarians, we don't love books. There are people who treasure books as objects, take care of them, love them, hate on libraries when they throw them away... But as a librarian you adapt books to suit the circumstances all the time. They're stamped, they're stuck full of stickers, they're cut up and reassembled and made to look quite different from their original form. And more than anything, they're lent out to anyone who wants to read them. There are books in the library that are broken, full of stains, smell nasty and who knows what else. If librarians really loved books they would just keep then all and never give them to children to chew on, school students to loose, old people to misplace. Library books are dropped in the bathtub, left out in the rain, forgotten abroad and simply lost. Old unread boos are discarded when they are no longer requested. I myself stamped and sorted out books that are over a hundred years old, without being that bothered by it.

A "real" book lover could never be a librarian, they'd be horrified by what they'd have to do every day and the condition in which they'd find the books. They could probably not stand sending away boxes full of books for recycling. Instead they're the ones who complain and rage when for example Malmö library tossed 30 000 books to create more room for a stage where they could host new activities.

Here we have what librarians find to be most important, the use of the space and the materials in the library. If the book has no use, if no one wants to read it, it serves no purpose and there is no reason to keep it. I'm not going to say librarians hate books, that would be lying but the love lies in the use of the book, not in the object as such. The more people read a book the happier we are. An old tattered volume with stains and a nasty smell is not all bad, it means it's been well-read and it was well invested money to buy it. It still sucks that it smells and is nasty though...
A librarian works for the spreading of culture, mainly through literature but basically in any way that people want it. In the end libraries exist for the people and librarians do what they can to include all and serve in the best way possible. Well, the ones I've been fortunate to work with are like that, though I know to many librarians out there don't seem to care about people, but then they've chosen the wrong profession. Our work will always be aimed at the people and what we do is always geared at how we can change and what we can do to better serve the needs of society in regards to literature, reading, meetings, discussions, digital awareness and literacy, education, fun, necessities and so on and so on. It is a wonderful place to work, especially with a good work-climate and enthusiastic co-workers and people who appreciate the time spent for them.

But my main point is that a librarian doesn't love the book as an object but rather as a means to an end, we love reading and we want people to read, if a few books are broken in the process so be it. The book in itself it not precious, there are more in the store, but the use of the book is precious.