10 Tips for Writing About Fictional Librarians (and the Cats Who Love Them)

1. Visit lots of libraries.

If you’re considering a library setting for a book, the absolute first thing I recommend is visiting as many as possible. Not just to figure out the design of your library, but also to sample a variety of smells, sounds, and textures. Every library has its own sense of place, and determining what you want yours to feel like will provide a solid foundation for the entire book.

(9 Lines of Writing Advice With Cats.)

If you don’t have access to multiple libraries, start snooping around on the internet. You won’t get the sounds and smells or tactile sense, but you can infer a lot from photos.

2. Get to know lots of librarians.

Obviously. Moving on to number three.

3. Determine how your library will be governed.

My fictional library is a district library. In Michigan that means it is governed by a board of trustees who are appointed by the municipalities that created the library’s district. The board hires the library director and the director hires everyone else. Your state may have different laws; best to take a looksee to figure out what’s what.

Then you get the fun of deciding how big a part of the book you want the governing body to be. Maybe it won’t be part of the book at all, or maybe your librarian will have to attend all sorts of committee meetings and board meetings. Then consider adding some difficult board members for your librarian to have to deal with. After all, a little work-related stress can easily move a plot forward. (Heh heh heh.)

4. Choose the culture of your fictional library.

Think about what’s important to the library board, the library director, the staff, and the community. With so many people involved there’s bound to be competing ideas, priorities, and agenda, all of which have the potential to be plot elements, or at least some interesting conflicts.

People in your library might disagree about expanding the library’s technology. They might argue about certain books that should/shouldn’t be in the library. They might have opposing views on whether or not to have a library cat. They might have shouting matches over changing the hours of the library’s operation. While these things may not have any direct bearing on your book’s main plot, a spice of minor conflict is almost always a Good Thing.

5. Write a fictional mission statement.

I wrote a mission statement for the very first bookmobile cat book. Why I did that, I have absolutely no idea, but it has served me well over the years. It helped me decide what non-traditional items the library would offer for borrowing, it helped me choose topics for a lecture series, and it helped me choose a new library director. Time spent on the foundational aspects of your library will not be time wasted. I promise!

6. Write fictional library policies.

Yes, this sounds horribly boring, but policies could end up being very important to your fictional library. And I’m not talking about fully-fleshed out policies, but think about things like a book return policy, overdue fines, what to do about disruptive patron behaviors, etc.

And you don’t have to create anything yourself—there are oodles of library policies available online. To paraphrase from Tom Lehrer’s song Lobachevsky, it’s not plagiarism, it’s research.

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7. Sketch out a library organizational chart.

This is one of those “Do as I Suggest Not as I Do“ things (which pairs with an emphatic recommendation to draw a map of your fictional town/county, especially if you’re writing a series that is going to run 13 books, but I’m not here to talk about that). If I’d figured this out way back when, I wouldn’t now be wondering how many clerks my library should have on staff, if there should be another supervisor, and whether or not the maintenance guy should be part time or full time.

8. Look up job descriptions.

In those times when I’m stuck for a library sub-plot, when my brain feels like a lump of clay and there’s not a single thought up there other than “This is going to be the dumbest book ever written,” what I often do is run an internet search for job descriptions. Sometimes it’s for the library’s IT position, sometimes for a clerk, sometimes for a library director. If I read enough of those, a sub-plot eventually pops into my head, I breathe a sigh of deep relief, and thank my lucky stars that I’m writing in the internet era.

9. Fill your library with patrons;

Make them tall, short, old, young, and in all types of shapes, colors, sizes, and personalities. Patrons are why libraries exist, and serving patrons is why librarians exist. And make sure to insert your fictional library’s patrons into the community. Are they retired? Working? Out of work?

Most importantly, think about their reasons for visiting the library. For the sheer pleasure of being in the library? Because they prefer print over digital and can’t afford to buy books? For the companionship? To get in out of the cold? Everyone has a reason, and knowing what reasons your patrons have could turn out to be valuable, plot-wise.

Then again, it could be fun to have a Mystery Patron, someone that no one knows anything about, leading to widespread staff speculations. Hmm, that’s a pretty good idea…wish I’d thought of it years ago…

10. Get to know a lot of cats.

If you want a cat in your book, there’s no substitute for first-hand experience. The danger is that once cats have insinuated their way into your life, there’s no way to get them out. I’ve been owned by cats for the vast majority of my life, and can’t imagine any other way of living. And even though I’m 99.9 percent sure that cats are using some form of mind control to sway me to do exactly what they want, I’m okay with it.

Which, of course, was part of their plan all along.

Check out Laurie Cass’ No Paw to Stand On here:

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