What can you do today?

Sometimes I think we get bogged down in the overwhelming. I cannot fix the problems with education, or even within the library world today. I don't have enough influence, I don't know how to turn the ship around, I can't...

Although sometimes these are the thoughts we have, especially when budget cuts loom, when the image of librarians is a little blurry, when our jobs, are in fact not well defined or well understood. When we know the good we could be doing, if someone would only let us.

Think about this. What can I do today to make life better for a student? The funniest thing happened to me yesterday that has happened to me for a long time, and it made me smile, and it made me think. A student came in who was about to give a presentation about Salvador Dali to his Spanish class. He wanted a little umph in his presentation, so he asked me to take a sharpie and draw a Daliesque mustache on his face. I said, "are you sure you want me to do it?" He was, so I did. He left here happy and I was smiling at the same time. I assured him if he wanted to remove it, he could return and I had some rubbing alcohol which would take it off. I didn't see him again yesterday. Sometimes it is the little things that make a difference. Sure, I didn't show him databases, I didn't look up anything for him, I didn't, in point of fact, help him prepare his presentation. But I did get to be a part of it. Maybe next time I will get to do more than draw a curly mustache. What can you do today?

Salvador Dali photo from the Library of Congress--no copyright restrictions apply according to their site.