What is it about librarians?

March 28, 2008

Long ago a wizened sage told me to stick with the tellers of stories and the keepers of the lore — honor the librarians in any organization, he told me, and good fortune, warm breezes and good beer would be mine forever.

He didn’t exaggerate much. Librarians, in my experience, often occupy the last island of sanity in a crazed organization. If nothing else, they can point you to the really good stuff.

So I occasionally peruse a librarian’s blog here and there. I notice a trend.

“Marian, Madame Librarian” is not the image these librarians want.* In their minds, perhaps in their lives — who knows? — they lead racier lives. Evidence? Check out the names of the blogs on the blog roll of the librarian who blogs under the masthead @ the library (warning: I’ve not checked these for at-work safety):

What is it about librarians?

Ad for New York City's Library Bar
No, they are not real librarians — that’s an ad for a New York bar, the Library Bar. Maybe the owners of the bar know something?

Update, March 30: More librarian blog names to ponder, from the sidebar of Tiny Little Librarian:

And, don’t overlook Fifteen Iguana.

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*    I love this kind of stuff:  Marian Paroo, the librarian in Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” appears to have been inspired by a woman from Provo, Utah, Marian Seeley.  Willson met Seeley during World War II, when she was a medical records librarian. Seeley is her married name.  Her husband, Frank Seeley, was the Provo native.  Seeley was a relatively common name in Utah County when I lived there; we had two Seeley families living in Pleasant Grove, Utah — brothers, one a teacher.  They’re all related, somewhere.  [Cheryl and Michelle Seeley, where are you now?]

12 Comments | Books, Humor, Libraries, Research | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell