Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian

Ok, 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.


34 Replies to “Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian”

  1. Very well written. No profession teaches to be organised. A librarian who keeps all things, even himself so tidy and organised. He knows better than the subject teacher. He guides student that which book is suitable for that particular topic. Teacher dependent on books which librarian gives.

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  3. This the single greatest post about librarians EVER! I had it framed on my library office wall for over 13 years! (Now that I’ve retired it’s here at home.)

  4. Read the text on the side of the image. :P

    It’s from a comic called “Strangers in Paradise”. That art is by quite an accomplished comic artist by the name of Terry Moore. I believe using it commercially would cost a pretty penny.

  5. Having just launched my debut YA fantasy novel, The Complete Tales from the Edge of the Woods with a reading at my favorite Carnegie Library in central NY, Canastota Public Library, I cant say enough wonderful things about librarians. Some of my dearest friends, editors, and trusted advisors are librarians. And the description in the essay is true! They know too muxh, they love to reseRch things out. A Fb friend who is one recently launched a search on my behalf for a long lost relative– and man, it was tough because the last name we ‘re talking here is….SMITH! But what. Can I say? Librarians rock! Anybody who says other will also have me kicking their butt!

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  14. 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

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  16. 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

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  19. 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.

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