Letter: Thankfully, librarians are not normal people

I taught English in District 200 for 30 years and am glad to see that others are finally beginning to understand what I have long known: School librarians are not normal people. First of all, they love books. Give a librarian the choice between reading a book and watching a fun YouTube video of kittens sleeping or a person falling into a hole, and they will choose the book every time.

Even worse, the ones I knew seemed determined to spread their love of reading to the students. I once overheard a kid ask if we had any mystery novels that might be fun to read, and without batting an eye, our librarian rattled off six titles. It was as if she'd anticipated the question and stocked up on books that kids might enjoy.

Stranger still, when technology became a big part of learning, our librarians led the way in helping teachers and students get comfortable using it. They redesigned our library to make it a congenial place for kids to collaborate while using laptops, and they were always ready to come into our classrooms to coach our students on the best ways to use the internet for research.

At times, it seemed like our librarians loved books and computers. Could it be that what they really loved was helping kids learn? Right, just like the Earth is round. No, flat. Hang on, let me look that up.

Dan McQuaid

Naperville