As HolidayInsights.com explains:
National Librarian Day [April 16] celebrates and honors librarians. They are among the most knowledgeable people you know. When you visit your cavernous library in search of a particular book, or a specific research topic, they always quickly point you in the right direction. And, they do so with a smile.
Experts of the Dewey Decimal System, your Librarian aids and assists you in identifying and retrieving a myriad of books, periodicals, and reference material. Librarians hold a wealth of knowledge in their heads. Got a subject you are researching? Chances are, the Librarian will point you right to the book you need.
Celebrate the day by sending a card to your librarian. Visit the library today, and make certain to say hello and “Thank you” to all of the librarians.
To which I add this quote, found on the laughinglibrarian.com:
“Libraries are far from the rarefied cathedrals of secular humanism they pretend to be, while librarians are the shadiest cratures this side of the Russian mob. Scratch the adamantly bland demeanor of any librarian and you’ll find trails of broken hearts, bathtubs full of meth fixings, and covert careers in porn.”—David Schmader, Last Days, 17 October 2002
I stand by that statement. Happy Librarian Day!
(Image courtesy of Amazon.com)
Hurrah! Librarians kick ass. Fnarf seal of approval.
So who is this librarian who stomped on your heart?
2: Actually, at the time I wrote that, I was friends with a small gaggle of librarians, who bemoaned their reputations as stuffy shushers, so I thought I’d help mix it up a bit.
yay me.
i work at a library and i have to say, it’s not that glamorous. homeless people, weird smells, people drinking beer in the library, and general assholery are commonplace. so thanks for librarian day! it makes it all a bit more bearable?
Librarians are awesome. Performing this crucial work for the rest of us also allows for cultivation of some pretty baroque obsessions. And I’ve never run across a librarian with much of a gag reflex.
I’ve sent Happy Librarians’ Day greetings to my librarian friends. Thanks for posting this.
Now buy a Nancy Pearl action figure and stimulate the local economy!
Ugh. Librarians. Boring. what’s next, National Bean Counters’ Day?
It isn’t that librarians are slutty. They’re not. Its that they’re tastes are dirty. Dirty dirty dirty librarians. Or call them kinky if you like that word better. All I’m saying is don’t let a librarian get you drunk unless you want to pick up a lot of dirty proclivities that you won’t be able to shake off as long as you live.
That’s what I’ve heard about them from people who should know.
uh cratures
them’s scary!
Also: I know someone who got the Fnarf seal of approval. They won’t say where they got it, but it looks bad and I think it’s spreading. Are they contagious? Should Public Health be notified?
libraries! whoot!
http://www.kcls.org/looktoyourlibrary/
The only thing that clears it up is wolverine urine, Elenchos.
I work in a library and I love 99% of my patrons, and all of my co-workers. Now go ask your librarian for a banned book in honor of Judith Krug, the librarian who founded Banned Books Week and passed away last Saturday. Librarians effing rule.
“Library service in this country should be based on the concept of intellectual freedom, of providing all pertinent information so a reader can make decisions for himself.”
My favorite quote:
“They are subversive. You think they’re just sitting there at the desk,
all quiet and everything. They’re like plotting the revolution, man. I
wouldn’t mess with them.”
— Michael Moore talking about librarians (Buzzflash, March 2002).
Thanks, from this academic librarian. I love my job and admire the hell out of my public library colleagues, who are the ones really in the trenches.
I love librarians! Oh, how I’d love to be one.
I believe I will pay my library fine today in honor of their day.
I am completing my thesis, and I would be lost without them. Happy day all.
also: has anyone noticed that Seattle has some damn good looking librarians at our public libraries? We are so lucky. They should do some sort of semi-nude calender to make up for the city budget cuts.
I stand in awe of the librarians who work the public information desk in particular. (I used to work for SPL.) The information desk librarian has to answer EVERYTHING, from telling the homeless guy where the toilet is, to reassuring the little child whose mother just disappeared into the stacks somewhere, to answering an academic researcher’s question about agricultural exports from Zimbabwe, to library hours – everything.
I was working on the information librarian’s computer one time when a library patron came up to the desk and went off on a rant about the brain-scanners installed at all the doors and in the bathrooms, and basically accused the librarian of stealing her brainwaves. I turned to the librarian after the person left, and asked, “do you keep the tinfoil hats in this drawer?” They put up with that shit ALL DAY LONG.
I spent my teenaged years working in a small town public library. It was a great education regarding people, customer service and how to approach an answer a million different ways. (very useful in my later career working in book shops) All the librarians there were fantastic folk and they always offered great suggestions of books to read. One thing stood out though, nearly every book they would suggest to me, “oh you should read this, it is great.” had some of the most graphic/filthiest sex scenes ever. Being 14 and introduced to “Fanny Hill” (I was told that it was very funny) was an eye-opener. I spent years thinking that all librarians were some porny people. Maybe they are. I would like to thank them for giving me a good literary sexual education.
Thanks David for giving us librarians some luv – and props for being more than the stereotype.
I’m what would be classified as being a corporate librarian – even though the company got rid of most of our non-electronic holdings (very sad days those were indeed).
@22, it’s not so much that we librarians are “porny people” we just have the research skills to find the ‘good stuff’ quickly, and the responsibility to ‘pass it on’.
Funny that National Librarian day comes the moment that tax time ends. Big cheers to the public librarians who have endured “where are the tax forms” questions for the last 4 months. Bigger cheers to the librarians who refrained from punching the clueless people who want the library staff to fill out their forms for them, provide envelopes, sell them stamps, or give opinions on whether such and such is deductible.
Just the other day someone at the SPL info chat line found a magazine for me even though all I had was the year (1923) and the caption of the picture on one page. Especially impressive, because the article was NOT indexed in any of the usual places. I was getting nowhere, and I’m a GOOD researcher.
Like I said, kick-ass.
@25, we like you too.
You sound like the type of patron that librarians don’t mind going the extra steps for – the ones who appreciate them and the work they do.
Librarians are hot.
Plus, they’re usually very good in bed too.
Oh, Jesus. That I did NOT need.
@26, I also leave little notes in my ILL requests telling whomever processes it how wonderful he or she is.
Here’s to the librarian who turned me on to my favorite piece of music. And to the one who used to tell us stories every week and turned me on to Paddle-to-the-Sea.
Y’all make huge differences in our lives. Librarian attitude: cool to aspire to.
Yay librarians!
it’s also national high-five day, so kill two birds with one stone and find a librarian to high-five.
Next year, Stranger, include this question in your Sex Survey: How many librarians have you had sex with? How many at one time???