“It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.” ~ George Eliot
I’m shifting focus from Market in the Park for a bit because of this man: David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States. BFF Jen Bartlett did an interview with him today as part of an oral history project. I played camera woman for the interview. I hadn’t met David before. I introduced myself as “Julie, you’re Cruise Director,” which made him giggle, so I knew he was good people right away. That, and his killer American flag socks, would be enough to make me love this dude, but it was really what he said in the interview that won me over completely. He was very well spoken, succinct and kind in his answers as one would expect from a man in his position. Yet, what moved me most was that he gets libraries and archives, and he gets who our patrons are. Even at the highest post in this nation he still walks around the reading room and talks to patrons. He talked a great deal about building relationships between colleagues, mentoring, and helping library schools understand that they need to teach real world library education, not theory. I have been saying that since before I graduated. I was so moved by his comments that I shook his hand and thanked him for speaking up for all of us who’ve suffered through horrid library graduate school experiences. David Ferriero is my hero and I was really pleased to meet him, although I might have to introduce myself to him as “Julie, your Cruise Director” from now on.
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