This is what a librarian looks like

“No one is better at fostering intellectual curiosity than children’s and teen librarians,” said Ingrid Abrams, a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library in New York. PHOTO TAKEN FROM SLATE.COM/CREDIT: KYLE CASSIDY

I came across this project on Slate and I thought it was such a cool idea, especially in light of it being National Library Week here in the United States. The portraits, captions and story are beautiful and show a different kind of librarian that we are used to seeing in movies or reading about in books. It is something that is really important to understand, the contribution that librarians make that people don’t think or know about, so that communities and those who control funding can understand why they should support this institution.

Kyle Cassidy, the photographer, talked about the challenges that librarians face with budget cuts and understaffing. “I see this really as battle. I don’t think it’s too much hyperbole to say it’s a fight in their communities for civilization, to give people access to not just knowledge but technology,” Cassidy said. “It’s easy to dismiss libraries as something superfluous if you have a connection to the Internet at home. But for people in many communities, the library is their lifeline to the modern world. It’s the only way they can do research, it’s the only way they can apply for jobs and file taxes. This is a class of people that is easy for many of us to miss. This is who librarians are especially fighting for.”

Go through the photos and full story here. Happy National Library Week!