by Grace Feldman

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

 -Steve Jobs

I recently read this quote on Pinterest. I had just moved from another state leaving some of my closest friends behind to take a job here in Seattle and though I missed my old home, I found myself nodding my head in agreement with the quote. I nodded because life had hit me in the head with a bag of bricks and in spite of this, I kept looking and did not settle. I nodded because I am finally truly satisfied doing what I believe is great work. I nodded until I came to the end of the quote and saw that Steve Jobs was the alleged source. What? Really? Steve Jobs said that?

I searched Google Scholar and found a couple of reliable documents that seemed to confirm that ruthless Steve Jobs was the source of the inspiring words. Unconvinced, I searched EBSCO and found more sources authenticating the origin of the quote (the quote was part of commencement address delivered by Jobs at Stanford in 2005). After reading several reliable articles confirming that pragmatic Steve Jobs was the source of the sentimental quote, I finally accepted it and moved on. Perhaps my skepticism stemmed from the unreliability of the majority of internet sources. Anyone on the internet can make a statement and then attribute it to someone with credibility. Case in point:

Jokes aside, the real root of my skepticism stems from my inherent (only sometimes annoying) pursuit of truth. We law librarians swim in an ocean of responsibilities, but despite the changing environment swirling around us, the responsibility of authentication and verification of sources remains. We continue to be relied upon for the delivery of truth and I love this. To Steve Jobs and perhaps to the graduates he addressed, loving what you do was really quite extraordinary and uncommon. In the world of law librarianship, the inverse of this seems to be true. Our profession is filled with librarians who are dedicated to doing what they love every day and having happy colleagues makes me love this work all the more.  Whenever I meet a law librarian, I feel a rush of kinship because they are one of the million reasons I love my work.  I am so proud to be part of this profession, excited to be a member of the LLOPS community and strive to be just one of the million reasons why you love what you do.