One of my favorite movie quotes is from the 1989 teen comedy Say Anything…. John Cusack’s slacker character, aspiring professional kickboxer Lloyd Dobler, is asked by his girlfriend Diane’s dad about his post-high school plans. He confidently replies, “I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.” That quote really resonated with me when I first saw the film, but the reason it is funny is of course because it’s almost impossible to find a career that fits within his utopian parameters. Though I celebrated Lloyd’s boldness in speaking his truth, I was watching the movie at a time when my career plans were also uncertain. Before I found a place in libraries, my future felt as unpromising as that of a smalltown misfit looking to win the affections of an out-of-his-league girl, assisted only by a boombox and a Peter Gabriel cassette.

But miracles happen – Diane liked the boombox-in-the-rain schtick, and I get to be a librarian! Sure, we do have to buy the books–and, true, we have to process and sometimes repair them. But setting that quibble aside, librarianship is truly a field that does Lloyd Dobler proud. Libraries exist so that people don’t have to buy things. Why buy a book you might only read once, or might not finish at all? Why buy a thermal leak detector that you (hopefully) will only need infrequently? Or a board game you’re not sure will be any fun? There’s no reason to buy any of these items if you don’t want to, because your Beebe library card will get you them for free!

I love being a librarian because I’m not here to sell you anything. You didn’t like the book? That’s okay with me because I also dislike many books. You don’t want to check anything out today because your to-read stack makes it a challenge to see out your window, and you’re just here at the library to hang out? I’m not here to judge! Some people thrive at sales; I just want you to ask me a really tough genealogy question. At the end of Say Anything…, we still haven’t heard any plausible answers about Lloyd’s projected career path. In typical romcom fashion, his girlfriend is strutting into a bright future in England, and after a last-minute reconciliation he decides to join her on the flight. But I’d like to think that, even if he’s like me and doesn’t figure it out until he’s pushing middle age, Lloyd eventually becomes a librarian in some alternate-reality extended version of the film. It’s not kickboxing, but it’s a respectable career that even Diane’s dad would endorse, and more importantly, the only thing librarians want to sell you on is the value of the work that we do.