Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian
k, sure. We’ve all got our little preconceived notions about who librarians are and what they do.
Many people think of librarians as diminutive civil servants, scuttling about “Sssh-ing” people and stamping things. Well, think again buster.
Librarians have degrees. They go to graduate school for Information Science and become masters of data systems and human/computer interaction. Librarians can catalog anything from an onion to a dog’s ear. They could catalog you.
Librarians wield unfathomable power. With a flip of the wrist they can hide your dissertation behind piles of old Field and Stream magazines. They can find data for your term paper that you never knew existed. They may even point you toward new and appropriate subject headings.
People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:17 am
At times I feel like I’m the “Rodney Dangerfield” of the education world in that I never can seem to get any respect.
I love this essay. When I have a Rodney Dangerfield day, I read it again. Last year when some ignorant seniors compared my MLS to a degree to a degree in janitorial science, I printed it out and taped it to my check-out computer.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
[...] http://librarianavengers.org/worship-2/ [...]
July 18th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Thank you
August 1st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
[...] For those hard core librarians out there, here is your anthem. My favourite quote is “People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge [...]
August 12th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Hi, I have linked “worship” to by blog and stuck an enlarged A3 copy on my office door! Hey that feels good! Laboring as I do under the dual distinction/disability/stereotype/caricature/in the annoyingly cliched world – of librarian and historian…
Cheers, Jack, Local Studies Librarian
January 26th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
[...] Today starts round two of the Day in the Life of a Librarian blogging round robin. If you’re reading this, you’re either a librarian/library student (in which case I encourage you to add your name to the blogging list and write a post of your own) or a family member/student/old friend (in which case you probably have no idea what I do all day…prepare to be enthralled.) [...]
February 13th, 2009 at 7:45 am
[...] February 13, 2009 at 2:45 pm (Ms. Almeyda) Yesterday, we touched on some of the stereotypes surrounding librarians. Here is a link to one of my favorite essays about what a librarian does. I’s by Erica Olsen, who writes the Librarian Avengers blog. Don’t worry, it’s short and sweet. Check it out. [...]
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Hello–
We’d like to use your “Look it up!” graphic on the IOUG Facebook page. Do you own the copyright? If so, could we borrow it for a bit?
Thanks
–mike