The Librarian Mystique

Wow! Let's go for it. I think there is a real librarian mystique, although not everybody gets it. Do you remember that terrific thriller/mystery, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco? The librarian, of course, did it! [ooops! forget I said that if you were just gettting ready to read that book -- what are you doing so far behind in your reading, anyway?!] I just loved the librarian's secret potion. I have actually fantasized about creating something like it that would break open from pages as they were torn in books! Would that be great? Poison their little wicked fingers as they tore out the page in the book! OOOH, what a wicked bad librarian I am!

There is a wonderful history of libraries that I recommend. If you will be VERY careful with it and get it back ON TIME [and you better not tear any pages -- remember my secret potion!], I might lend it on ILL! Library, An Unquiet History, by Matthew Battles (Norton, 2003). It is a small, charming book, with illustrations, and wears its erudition gently.

When I was finishing library school, I was inducted into the Library Science honorary society. As a law librarian, I was disappointed that it had a boring Greek letter title. I wished it were more like the Order of the Coif. I wanted to start the Order of the Bun! Yay!