Is it a fair ask for a child to interview a librarian?
My 9 year old son loves books and libraries. He even requests to visit the local library when we travel.
He is also autistic and struggles with expressive and reciprocal communication, which we work on at home and in therapy. It can be challenging to find opportunities for him to practice interacting with adults as he tends to opt out unless he has an intrinsic motivation.
Recently, he has talked about wanting to be a librarian in th children’s section when he grows up. We've talked about what kinds of things he might do. He remembers fondly how a librarian gave him a peak at the circulation room when she noticed him trying to peak through the book return slots.
I asked if he would want to research that career over the summer and he said yes! He even was open to talking to a librarian. I cannot tell you how absolutely thrilled I am to hear him WANT to have a conversation with someone he might not know. This is HUGE for us.
Now I'm left wondering - is that an appropriate ask? The librarians that we knew so well from story time when he was younger are no longer at our branch so I don't have anyone I know I could ask. I appreciate all opinions and everything librarians do for our communities!