Building Relationships Builds Strong Library Programs

Abstract

Bilmes received his Masters of Library Science degree 22 years ago. There are a lot of things he studied during his MLS program that he had forgotten. For example, he doesn't remember how the Library of Congress cataloging system works. That's probably because the only time in his life he actually had to know that was when he was taking his cataloging course. But there was one piece of advice he received from an instructor in his school library program that was as useful as anything else he learned. The instructor, a longtime teacher librarian, told us, "The most important people in the school building are the secretaries and the custodians." At the time, he thought that was a strange piece of advice. After all, aren't the administrators the most important people? As time passed though, and he embarked on his teaching career, he realized just how useful that advice had been. There were countless times when he needed furniture moved--or removed--or assistance in getting chairs and a podium set up for a program he was running. Or a lightbulb replaced, or someone to check into why the air conditioning wasn't working in the library.