Celebrating South African Librarians’ Day: Why Did You Become a Librarian?

South African Librarians’ Day is celebrated every year on July 10th, commemorating the establishment of LIASA and honouring all the dedicated library and information workers who tirelessly contribute to the sector.

As the library marketer at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Library Services, I often face the challenge of creating meaningful ways to celebrate this special day. Now, as I near the end of my career, one question stands out in my mind: Why did you become a librarian?

I vividly remember why I chose this career path. Years ago, when I was in Grade 9, our family moved to a new neighbourhood, where we befriended our neighbours. One neighbour was the head public librarian at the local public library. The first time I entered her house, I was amazed by the stacks of books everywhere, seemingly sorted in a particular way. She explained that she believed in reading every fiction book in her library to make good recommendations to her patrons and sorted them according to genres. Her passion and love for her daily work impressed and inspired me. I thought there could not be a better career than that!

When the time came to make career choices, I decided to study teaching (as it seemed the obvious choice at my school), but I combined it with Library Science. Although I never became the public librarian I had dreamed of being, I have worked in academic libraries for the past 35 years, and it has been a very fulfilling career.

If you’d like to hear the stories of some of our other University of Pretoria librarians, check out this video.

Let's celebrate the dedication and passion of librarians everywhere, and remember why we chose this incredible profession!