Libraries are the public places where we bring our most private selves; Cammie McGovern -- Photo by Ellen Augarten

Author Cammie McGovern gets what librarians are about. In her keynote speech at the annual AAP Librarians Sneak Peek Book Preview 2011, last week, she spoke about libraries being “the public places where we bring our most private selves” and thanked librarians for managing to be helpful without being judgmental during times of personal crises.

Librarians continually work to develop this skill and to help develop it in others. McGovern gives witness to the importance of that effort.

We’re grateful to McGovern (author of Neighborhood Watch, Viking, June, 2010) for allowing us to post a version of her speech on EarlyWord. Use it with beginning staff; it’s more effective than a hundred lectures.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 28th, 2010 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Library Values. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.