Over on Erica Firment's website Librarian Avengers is a page which enshrines the essay called "Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian," which she wrote in 1997. ("In Internet time," she says, "that’s about 50 years ago.")
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.
Still true.
Note: Erica also writes, "Saying 'I am a librarian' is like saying 'Please, remove $80,000 from my paycheck' so let’s keep the librarian thing between you and me. Seriously. This profession is rough."
The "Look it up!" image is © 2002 by Terry Moore, from Strangers in Paradise. See here for teeshirts, etc.
