Libraries and Librarians
Not all chickens or bookworms are alike.
When I go to the library, I know why I am there. I want to get the book that I previously found online and go home, snuggle up with my heated blanket and read. Get in and get out efficiently and quickly. (Update: Now I work in the library and still look up what I want before, then walk to the section to find what I need, but hardly browse)
My family LOVES to browse, look around at titles, see what catches their eye and especially not be rushed.
But we’re often the opposite when it comes to family history. I can and do spend hours searching, digging, pecking at the same mystery or issue just to get a little closer to the truth. After years, it is definitely starting to pay off. But I also love going in to read a story, be reminded of where my family lived as I search on maps, listen to voices long since passed on, look at pictures of simpler times and so many other ways to connect with family since passed.
My husband wants to get in and out of family history but often feels lost. He really wants to solve the unsolvable and know where his last name came from. “Why did this man whose story is just out of reach come to be where he was and become my last name?”
LIke libraries, we all approach things differently and it’s similar in the way we are all so different.
And librarians definitely have stereotypes. Which one would you rather have help you? The strict, glasses low, glaring librarian or the sweet, children librarian who shares and shows everything you need. (Oh, I so want to be the latter!) Typically, family historians are a mix of the two, they guard their records and stories close as they are so precious and took so many hours of hard work to put together.
My Rootstech cousin had a analogy I use often: As family historians, we are like librarians. Taking it further: I am like a librarian, and as much as I want to, I hardly have all the answers, but can try to point you in the right direction and hope you discover yourself in the process.
I definitely enjoy the process to discovery as much as the actual discovery.
