I believe that all public servants—particularly those that work for a government municipality—should know the communities and people in which they serve. Many years ago, prior to the wide spread advent of Wal-Mart and gargantuan shopping malls housing movie theaters and theme parks, shop owners, mail carriers, garbage men—and I suspect librarians—often knew the people they served, on a first name basis and at the very least by the last name. The only geographical locale in the United States where this seems to have not have been the norm was in New York City cab driver and even the average harried pedestrian walking the busy streets had no problem referring to everyone they encountered as “buddy”. “Hey buddy, get outta the way” or “buddy, I told ya once I don’t have no money—get lost ya bum!”
Of course the practice of knowing the name of a recalcitrant child or ill-tempered teenager that has hacked into the online catalog or library website has its benefits. Such as threatening Day-quan, Shyheem, Bobby and Susie with library banishment (which means no computer use) for the school year! The plural “hey you” might not be satisfactory in honing in on the aforementioned singular culprit.
There is essentially one way I have gotten to know people and businesses in the community my branch library is located in—ride the bus. Taking public transportation allows any municipal government employee to see and experience the good, the bad and ugly of people and place. The downside of taking the bus could possibly be seeing the patron that has been a public nuisance to library staff and other users at large. But that is a risk one takes.
Names are useful in that they ascribe a unique set of traits and attributes to human beings. You need “a name” of some sort to get a driver’s license, passport, a mortgage, bank account and library card. Even though Malcolm X’s last name only encompassed one letter he nonetheless was privy to a legal, parentall name of Malcolm Little. Also, having a first name probably prevented my mother and first grade teacher from using the locution “hey you” all the time. At other times being a nameless librarian has the perk of being able to read a magazine or book in a group of people without being hounded for an autograph because your side profile was mistaken to be Lebron James or a noted rap artist.
Much to my chagrin (at times) nameless people on the DATA bus and at the downtown transportation do recognize me on occasion. They might say: “Hey, don’t I know you?” or “don’t you work at the lie-berry (e.g. library)?” Depending on my mood, temperament or time of the day I might reply in the affirmative. However, the most creative moniker I have received to date is Library Man—as in “heeyy Mr. Library Man!!” The patron/bus rider probably knew both my first and last names that were prominently displayed on the I.D. badge all municipal employees are required to wear during working hours.
The aforementioned style of a “nickname” seems to have caught on with the average American citizen these days. More intriguing is the fact that the market share and popularity of poorly behaved actors, athletes and rappers appears to coincide with being the owner of a recognizable nick name like Tiger, Dr. J., Jay-Z, A.I., 50 Cent or Kid Rock. Of course most of the white-collar criminals on Wall Street responsible for the recent recession and their non-Wall Street counterparts already in jail often go by the name on their birth certificate. But what about the not so moral (and somewhat older) librarians that get caught in the back of parked vehicles with seventeen year old school kids. Their given names and the given names of their spouses usually end up in the newspaper. Maybe, just maybe, more of us librarians should begin to use a nickname. However, I don’t know if my own nickname “Library Man” will pass muster to become a memorable mainstay in American popular culture. The librarian blogger “Library Man” aka Michael Porter seems to have developed a good following but as for this library man well… Only time will tell.
