Librarianship: a Noble Profession

In my previous post, I discussed the inspirational mission of librarianship as defined by the professor of my introductory course, Dave Lankes. Professor Lankes began our most recent class by continuing to expound upon the mission of librarians and how this mission can be divided into three parts: Conversation, Facilitation, and Values. He noted that of the three divisions, the values of librarians and librarianship tend to be the most important to the profession. The Portable MLIS lists the four key values of libraries and librarianship today as follows:

1. Belief in Intellectual Freedom
2. Belief in Service and the Public Good
3. Belief in Education
4. Belief in the Value of the Past: Preservation

In all honesty, I entered my studies of librarianship without much consideration as to the values of the profession. As my last post implied, I turned to studying library science out of my love of books and literature, and not exactly out of the more noble desire to spread intellectual freedom and knowledge to the masses. Of course, I have always believed that access to knowledge is the key to understanding and creation. This belief particularly hit home during my undergraduate studies, which proved to open up my mind in ways I could never have conceived. While I was never enthusiastic about pursuing an MA and PhD in English Lit. in order to become a professor (and obviously chose not to take that path), I am glad that the profession that I have chosen to study holds many of the same values that a good teacher might possess.

No matter what type of librarian you choose to become (public, academic, school, or special), these values remain at the core of the profession. Again, I find myself inspired by this idea. I know that values can be found in almost any profession, but from what I have read and seen, most librarians seem to take these values to heart. I know that it is naive to assume that every librarian works by these core values, but it's still just refreshing to know that librarianship at its heart is a noble profession.