We all want to feel needed at some point or another. It's important to feel that you are necessary. Is there room for nonessentials? My knowledge of literature, writing, researching and organizing data seems so superfluous in this world. I remember going to library school, I was doing cataloging at the time. I loved putting everything in its proper place and knowing my data was going to help people.
I have not been working for some time, and honestly, the idea of going back, even interviewing seems daunting when your peers are twenty something graduates that are up on everything new. I have also noticed that the eight or so years I have not worked have not seemed to include any kind of pay raise.
While I don't think that I would say that librarianship is likely to bring fortune or fame, it is funny that those whom you can go to any day of the week for help are so underpaid. I don't think that I was feeling needed at my last job or maybe even the one before that. I think what I loved the most were my early years when I got to know people, be a small part of their lives and be helpful to them.
Unfortunately, circumstances changed for me and I also felt a great deal of pressure to be more than what I was, in many different ways. Perhaps if I had truly been needed, it would have been different. Do you feel needed? Do you think it's an important part of your life/work?
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