MeFi Librarians

December 3, 2004 12:50 PM

Mefi Librarian Call-Out?

I'm tickled by the idea that Metafilter is a secret bastion of (potentially erm, "turned-on") librarians. I wish Iwas a librarian. I think all the librarians on Metafilter should sign in here and band together at suitable meet-ups to form an army of goodness that (please God please God please God) will take over the world.
posted by nanojath to MetaFilter Gatherings at 12:50 PM (65 comments total)

I'm one.

I think our flag should be a mailed fist clutching a copy of AACR2.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 12:56 PM on December 3, 2004

My coat of arms would depict input standards for OCLC fixed-field elements. Yea to the Leader!
posted by goofyfoot at 1:01 PM on December 3, 2004

My first Metafilter post! Answering the librarian roll call.

*but I'm actually an archivist*

A big Woo! to all the Mefi librarians!
posted by Sidthecat at 1:03 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm one. Although I haven't actually done a whole lot of work as a real librarian since I graduated in '99.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:04 PM on December 3, 2004

The library, the library - it's a place where the books are free.
posted by iamck at 1:09 PM on December 3, 2004

Pot smoking librarians, I'm shocked, shocked I say.

Answering the librarian roll call here. Note, that's librarian with a lowercase "l" as I don't have an MLS or whatever they call it these days. I just worked in libraries for 15 years, and now...

*I'm actually an archivist*

I decided archivists are people who don't have the social skills to be a librarian. Myself included thank you.
posted by marxchivist at 1:10 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm learning library science while I'm typing this! Do we count as librarians if we're still in school? I've been to ALA.
posted by stet at 1:12 PM on December 3, 2004

I decided archivists are people who don't have the social skills to be a librarian.

I'm currently working as a radio archivist, and the people who have been here for quite a while have seemingly lost their ability to speak...

...must...get...a...new...job...!
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:13 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm learning how to be a librarian (as we speak! Yay for wireless and laptops in class) but I kind of want to be an archivist.
posted by librarina at 1:13 PM on December 3, 2004

librarina copied my joke off of my laptop, damn her!
posted by stet at 1:17 PM on December 3, 2004

No, it's just that I was paying attention to the professor.

For once.
posted by librarina at 1:18 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm a paraprofessional, hoping to conquer amotivational syndrome long enough to finish my thesis.
posted by box at 1:20 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm not a librarian, but the library I work in is bigger than yours.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:26 PM on December 3, 2004

I will one of "them" at the end of August. Working in libraries is really the only job I have ever known (except for one slightly illegal one) since 1988.
posted by Razzle Bathbone at 1:26 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm learning how to be a librarian. . . but I kind of want to be an archivist.

I've learned since venturing into the job market with my newly minted Public History MA, you have a lot more options for jobs if you have MLS with archives experience or a dual degree. There are lots of archives in University libraries in the US and they like to hire folks with Librarian degrees.
posted by marxchivist at 1:33 PM on December 3, 2004

Archivist with a MLS here, and I would call my social skills adequate. The folks at the National Archives though--- they are a lot weird in the social department.
posted by modavis at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2004

There are lots of archives in University libraries in the US and they like to hire folks with Librarian degrees.

Lovely; that is exactly what I am hoping for.
posted by librarina at 1:37 PM on December 3, 2004

I help run the ILS for a public library consortium. Have been a page, aide and librarian, although I never finished my MLS, having decided it was complete bs. I've worked circ, ref, cleaned up leaky diapers, tossed out obnoxious patrons and chipped ice out of the downspouts so the roof would stop leaking on the new books.

So, I am not technically a librarian, even though I've had the job title and have worked in public libraries for over 10 years.

Taking over the world is fine with me. Library staff deserve to be corrupted and get rich as much as any other group.

And social skills are inefficient. Which may be why I work as co-op support staff rather than on the front lines these days.
posted by QIbHom at 1:38 PM on December 3, 2004

Dewey is just too damn confusing :)
posted by orange clock at 1:44 PM on December 3, 2004

Death to Dewey. You'll get my KF schedule (yes, I catalog legal material) when it's pried from Charlton Heston's cold dead hands.
posted by goofyfoot at 1:50 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm a recovering Librarian, although like an alcoholic, I think I'll always carry the label. I took a job out of library school that I just loathed, so much in fact that it drove me back to teaching. I teach a hell of a lot of research methods though.


And what is all this talk about sexy goth librarians at ALA? I guess I've just been going to the wrong sections. My experience involves fighting my way through crowds of large women with images of cats sewn on some part of their clothing, clutching as much swag as they could snatch from the vendor booths. I haven't been since Toronto though, so hopefully the demographic is changing.
posted by bibliowench at 2:02 PM on December 3, 2004 [1 favorite]

Do we count as librarians if we're still in school?

Shit, I'm apparently a "library groupie" (the non-librarian who started the librarian post) so I'd say hell yeah.
posted by nanojath at 2:28 PM on December 3, 2004

And what is all this talk about sexy goth librarians at ALA?

Oh, baby! Rowwwrrr!
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 2:29 PM on December 3, 2004

I have an MLS, but haven't worked as a librarian since 1981 when I quit cataloging. Does anyone still catalog any more? The reference to AACR2 implies yes, but in this CIP/OCLC world, really?
posted by mojohand at 2:33 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm one, too! Not a famous one like Jessamyn, but I'm a librarian.
posted by willpie at 2:57 PM on December 3, 2004

I love librarians. (wish I'd had the sense to be one)
posted by kamylyon at 3:17 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm a librarian!
posted by gnat at 3:30 PM on December 3, 2004

i thought about being a librarian for awhile.

but i just signed a two year lease on a warehouse to start an art gallery, so i guess the CRAZY FUN OF LIBRARY SCHOOL will have to wait.
posted by fishfucker at 3:55 PM on December 3, 2004

I'll kill the first person to welcome our new librarian overlords. I swear to God.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 4:06 PM on December 3, 2004

My roommate is a cataloguer and Library Science Student at UofT.

Sometimes I go to the library. The books are free, and the girls are hot.
posted by joelf at 4:35 PM on December 3, 2004

Kleptophoria!: thank you thank you a damn nice out-loud laugh.

(Is there some in-joke way to say "Your comment cracked me up"?)

I didn't feel like saying *spews beverage out nose*
posted by marxchivist at 4:40 PM on December 3, 2004

(didn't we do this once before? or something like this?)

Count me in, though MrMoonPie is right: you could fit all of our libraries inside his.

The Librarian to end all MeFi Librarians (Jessamyn) is in Australia, so she might not check in for this one.
posted by arco at 4:44 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm a librarian's assistant! it's our job to actually do the work so that the proper librarians can take catnaps and shop online.
posted by mcsweetie at 4:47 PM on December 3, 2004

I'll kill the first person to welcome our new librarian overlords. I swear to God.
posted by Kleptophoria! at 4:06 PM PST on December 3

Promise?
posted by kamylyon at 4:53 PM on December 3, 2004

Some librarians don't get library assistants. I'd love to be able to take catnaps and shop online...
posted by gnat at 5:13 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm a librarian--both by training and by current job--although I work in the library of an EvilMegaCorp. That is, I don't think the company I work for is evil, though I would not be surprised to learn that many MeFites do.

There's part of me that would absolutely love to work at a public library reference desk, but this "better pay than in a public library" and "not working nights or weekends" thing is pretty nice too.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:13 PM on December 3, 2004

I voted Librarian Alliance at the last elections. I like their emphasis on freedom of speech and drug decriminalisation.

No, wait...
posted by dash_slot- at 5:45 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm in an MLIS program. In fact, I think it's the same program as librarina and stet, though I don't have the slightest idea who they are. I'm not a librarian yet, but I do call myself an information scientist, because my house mate is a physicist and it bothers him when I do that.
posted by Hildago at 5:51 PM on December 3, 2004

Oh, and thanks again arco
posted by Hildago at 5:53 PM on December 3, 2004

I worked at the Library at the Institute of Higher and Wider Learning from which I received my Bachelors Degree in EvilMegaCorp Business. You'd think I would've learned something.

And my dear departed mother was a school librarian at the same institution where I served my Middle School Years.

Oh, and I'm a Libra. Does that count for anything?

And do we Librarians now have to pledge allegience to Noah Wyle? (Any TV movie with "a martial arts scene featuring Bob Newhart can't be taken seriously)
posted by wendell at 6:07 PM on December 3, 2004

Someone already mentioned Jessamyn, and I'll fess up and admit I'm a librarian as well.

I think we actually did this already here, didn't we? Maybe a year ago or so? Suprising how many of us there are 'round these parts!
posted by Blake at 6:12 PM on December 3, 2004

Oh yeah, we did do this Here and I started it, that's why it all seems so deja-filter.

Mefibrarians, we are many.
posted by Blake at 6:15 PM on December 3, 2004

My husband is due to get his MLS next semester, so I want to be in the PFLAG version. I can help organize your marches, make the finger foods for your meetings, drive you to your optometry appointments, etc...
posted by melissa may at 6:35 PM on December 3, 2004

I do call myself an information scientist, because my house mate is a physicist and it bothers him when I do that.

Hildago, that is the only good reason I've ever heard to use that particularly abominable piece of obfuscated jargon.
posted by QIbHom at 6:39 PM on December 3, 2004

I'm in an MLS program and currently working in preservation. But it's only my first semester so I can't call myself a librarian yet.
posted by Jeanne at 6:42 PM on December 3, 2004

I work at a library, though I am not a librarian. I try not to read MeFi at the circ desk.
posted by Charlie Bucket at 7:33 PM on December 3, 2004

I am a high school library technician and as such, the only librarian at our school although I don't have an MLS. I've been in this position for 18 years and I spend as much time if not more providing IT support to the entire school than I do ordering, cataloguing and circulating books. Librarians reprazent!
posted by Lynsey at 10:25 PM on December 3, 2004

Shit, i thought you were asking the libertarians to stand up, and I was going to say...what goddamn army of goodness?

Librarians are much cooler.
posted by Jimbob at 10:55 PM on December 3, 2004

dash_slot: a lot of librarians would agree with those platforms (and certainly the first one) as well.

I'm trained as a librarian though not currently working as one. Will be going back to it in a couple of years (special or maybe academic library).
posted by Infinite Jest at 11:54 PM on December 3, 2004

Oh God, I'd love to be a librarian. But I guess the job market would be pretty tight.
posted by Meridian at 12:52 AM on December 4, 2004

Where were all of you when we needed you over in AskMefi?
posted by euphorb at 1:40 AM on December 4, 2004

Stumbling in a bit late, but I'm a law firm librarian.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 4:05 AM on December 4, 2004

There are a lot of different kinds of librarians, euphorb. I've helped move a few libraries, but none who could afford to hire people to put the books on the shelves.
posted by QIbHom at 4:14 AM on December 4, 2004

Getting my MLS was a nightmare (partly because of the school I was at, the fucking University of Western Ontario), but I will say this (in response to the earlier "books are free, girls are hot" comment) in its favour; I did much better with the ladies as an MLS student than I did as an undergrad. First of all, the gender split was about 80/20 female/male, so it was a seller's market if you were a guy. Second of all, most of the guys in the program made me, of average attractiveness, look like Brad Pitt. Third, the girls in the program who were hot...were damned hot. I haven't run across too many librarian hotties now that I'm a professional, but maybe I'm just not running in the right circles.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:55 AM on December 4, 2004

Thanks for the shout out to my question, euphorb. Luckily, it looks like the most headache inducing part of the task is no longer a problem. Yay!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:19 AM on December 4, 2004

I've a degree in Librarianship although I only ever worked in one library while I was at University. So I guess you can say I've lapsed.
posted by feelinglistless at 9:09 AM on December 4, 2004

I'm a library tech and I work the reference desk and do ILL and I even recommend purchases! I've considered getting my MLS but it scarcely seems worthwhile for the money. Plus then I'd have to go to lots of boring meetings as opposed to actually doing the work people commonly associate with being a librarian. Kinda like the difference between an RN and an RNA...

As an aside to all Canucks here, none other than Robert Baltovich was in my class in library school. He was a nice guy FWIW.
posted by stinkycheese at 12:23 PM on December 4, 2004

So, what librarian blogs do y'all like? And is anyone involved in AACR3?
posted by goofyfoot at 9:40 PM on December 4, 2004

I'm in the MISt programme at University of Toronto. Archives.

>Robert Baltovich was in my class in library school.
I did nay know he was a librarian. Eight years ago there was a convincing article in Saturday Night saying Rob Baltovich was innocent, or at least there was enough conflicting evidence to go after Paul Bernardo.
posted by philfromhavelock at 9:47 PM on December 4, 2004

Well, technically he'd be a library technician. Though for all I know he's since got his MLS...

I worked at the U of T Victoria University Library a couple years back when they were shifting for the new EJ Pratt building BTW. A beautiful library indeed, a pleasure to work in.
posted by stinkycheese at 1:13 PM on December 5, 2004

goofyfoot: I read the obvious ones: Library Stuff, The Shifted Librarian, Walking Paper, MamaMusings, LISNews.com, and Librarian.net (the last two both run by MeFi members). Phil Bradley and the Young Librarian are both good, too.

For light relief I like the Gay Librarian and Bizgirl (who doesn't actually exist, but is a figment of the imagination of a male blogger - which didn't stop her winning 'best personal blog' at a recent New Zealand awards).
posted by Infinite Jest at 11:21 PM on December 5, 2004

I'm way late - and I was so proud of myself for staying offline all weekend - but just wanted to say Me Too, in case anyone checked back later for a roll call for World Domination.

Digital library dept at a university, will have my MLS in a matter of days.
posted by donnagirl at 1:16 PM on December 6, 2004

Hi. I only saw this thread because of hits to my blog, mentioned above, so I'm late. Sorry. I'm more of a plain MeFi and Ask guy. I promise I'll subscribe to the MeTa feed now. Anywho: one more librarian.
posted by ArcAm at 10:50 PM on December 6, 2004

damnit! you posted this the day after I left on vacation!! I am a librarian too, one with an actual job. If anyone's going to be at ALA in Boston or Chicago please email me.
posted by jessamyn at 5:10 PM on December 13, 2004

Not a librarian, but I did co-author a book published by ALA (first ed. of Youth Participation in Schools and Public Libraries). If anyone here has a copy, let me know! :)
posted by xowie at 9:35 AM on December 16, 2004