Grat·i·tude, noun: a feeling of appreciation or thanks.
Synonyms: appreciation, appreciativeness, gratefulness, thanks, thankfulness.

When I tell people I’m a librarian the reaction is almost invariably positive, if not always grounded in reality.  “That must be a fun job.”  “How wonderful to be surrounded by books all day.”  “With all that reading you must be so smart!”

In truth, the fun part about being a librarian – and it IS, for the most part, a fun job — has little to do with being surrounded by books, and even less with reading them.  As for being smart, well, not so much, though we librarians do pride ourselves on knowing where to go to look for answers.

No, the real reason why this job is fun is you, the students and faculty we get to help every day.  You are the ones that make this work fulfilling, challenging, rewarding, and fun.

Madison College librarians get to do and see some pretty amazing things.  But we rarely get to talk about them, much less thank you for them.  With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we’d like to take this opportunity to do just that.

To the students:
• Thank you for visiting our libraries, for checking out books and DVDs, for consulting our journal databases and research guides.  Your use of these resources tells us how important the library is to you and to your success at Madison College.

• Thank you for checking out our laptops, iPads, and e-readers; for using our flipcams; for booking our group study rooms and multimedia studios.  We are happy to see these resources so well-used.

• Thank you for bringing us your reference and research questions, for sharing your interest in – and sometimes your frustration with –  your research topics, for coming back to tell us how that presentation or that paper you worked so hard on went.

• Thank you for attending our instruction sessions, for listening to what can sometimes be pretty dry material, for asking good questions, and telling us when you are confused.  Thank you for coming to us afterwards and telling us how much an instruction session helped, or how excited you were to learn about a resource.

• Thank you for sharing your discoveries with us; for telling us when something “clicks;” when your research takes you in a new direction; when, after much effort, you succeed in finding just the article you need.  When you confess, as some of you do, with a tone of disbelief, that you actually enjoyed doing the research, that is like music to our ears.

To the faculty:
• Thank you for encouraging your students to visit the library and use the resources.

• Thank you for inviting us to meet with your classes and for including us as partners in your students’ learning.

• Thank you for attending our library instruction sessions and for your valuable input before, during and after them.  Your presence and your feedback help us to do a better job of tailoring these sessions to your students’ needs. We know that some of you get to hear us many times over.  And yet so many of you comment on the new things you learn and the different resources you discover at each session.

• Thank you for helping us to build our library collections by sharing your expertise and knowledge of your field with us.  Your suggestions and recommendations are always welcome.

• Thank you for recognizing the value of library and research skills to your students and for including these skills as an integral part of your students’ academic experience.

Madison College Libraries are here for you.  By walking through our doors and using our resources, you tell us every day that we are an integral part of your academic journey.  Thank you for that.  You are, after all, the reason why we’re here.