Ramblings on libraries and life upon the wicked stage

My blogging identity is a handle I’ve used on a few other sites.  The Singing Librarian.  Recently, however, a real-life friend who knows of this blog commented that they didn’t think the handle really summed me up, that they wouldn’t think of me in those terms.  So I wondered.  And pondered.  And sat on the thought for a while.  Is the Singing Librarian really who I am?

No.  Not really.  Singing and librarianing are things that I do, and I don’t think that what I do really sums up who I am as such.  I do like to hide behind the librarian thing, as “well, I am a librarian” is a perfect response in so many situations, particularly when I manage to outgeek a bunch of unshowered, black-clad computer types.  And my escapades on the stage are important, though incongruous part of my life.  People who know me off-stage, often find the on-stage Singing Librarian hard to reconcile with the person they are accustomed to.  But my faith is an important part of my identity, as is my cultural background, as British as a raincloud on Bank Holiday Monday.  My attitudes, beliefs, political leanings, tastes and friendships all shape who I am, and are not merely what I do.  However, The Awkward Christian Liberal Democrat Comic-Reading Blog-Writing Selectively Herpetophobic Perfectionist Singing Librarian With A Strange Sense of Humour And An MA in Literature doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, and is still rather incomplete.  Singing Librarian is short enough to be memorable and combines a couple of ideas in a pleasingly unexpected fashion.

The parts of the name aren’t entirely accurate, anyway.  I’m not a librarian, not in the sense of the word used in the profession.  I don’t hold a library qualification, though I am working towards one, nor do I work in a position which includes ‘Librarian’ in the job title, largely because I lack said qualification.  And I don’t really consider myself to be a singer.  I can sing, certainly, and I really enjoy doing so, but my talent lacks skill and craft.  I am not a musician, I don’t understand or inhabit music in the way that true singers often do.  I am a performer, who likes to tell a story through song.  An actor who sings, not really a singer who acts.

Unfortunately, the Performing Library Assistant sounds rather disturbing, as if I should be shelving a stack of books then leaping through a hoop to get some fish.  Which is not what I do, and is certainly not who I am. 

So let’s just leave it as it is for now.