Tonight I heard the last lecture in one of my classes. The topic was the digitization of collections, but the professor stopped short of completing the lecture. He said we could look at the rest of the slides of his notes on our own, that he just wanted to end the semester with a final thought. And this is it; paraphrased:

“Librarianship is a noble profession. We’ve all experienced what libraries have provided to us while growing up. Librarians are the gateway to the world of information; librarians make society more humane and more democratic. But librarians aren’t held in much esteem. Many of you, when you told friends and family that you were going to school to become librarians, suffered the jokes and confusion of people outside the profession. Some people probably questioned your sanity and your economic future. Librarians aren’t valued by society, and aren’t compensated well. Your rewards won’t be evidenced by your rate of pay. You’re answering a higher calling; you’ll be providing a service to society.”

I thought it was the perfect way to end the semester. No one has ever said that out loud in any of my classes. But it’s true. When I quit my job to go back to school most people thought I was nuts, both because they couldn’t imagine going back to school, and because of the salary I was giving up.

My boss,however, asked me the right question. She asked if I was leaving to do something I felt I was meant to do.  I answered with a heartfelt yes.