# I'm a librarian! Woo! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2002, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849 "2002-04-04T20:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/21 "2002-04-05T21:33:43Z")
_What can I do, my dear to make it clear I need you madly madly madly Madame Librarian Marian_ OK, so your name isn’t ‘Marian’. Just as well, since I’m not Harold Hill. 🙂 Glad you’re enjoying the break - colleges are wonderful places to be when you don’t have classes and papers and stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/22 "2002-04-05T22:39:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\* > > Linguistics, you say? That’s what I’ve been admitted to UC-Davis to study as a transfer (from Community College) student. Any advice? \*\* Well, Lamia might wrestle with me over this, but my advice is that the universal theory of grammar is, shall we say, worthy of being mocked. IMHO. 😉 [http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipa.html](http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipa.html) [http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/stat.html](http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/stat.html) [http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/linguistics/faciliti/demos/demos.html](http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/linguistics/faciliti/demos/demos.html) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/23 "2002-04-05T22:53:40Z")
Yay librarians! I loved library school, and actually being a librarian is even better. Coolest thing ever. Is there any better thing than ransacking the new book shelf before the library opens, wandering the stacks to find obscure books and finding different obscure books to read, or better yet, getting asked a completely weird question to which you–ta-da!–know the answer? So go apply to the school. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/24 "2002-04-05T22:59:04Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by genie \* > \*\* Is there any better thing than ransacking the new book shelf before the library opens…?_\* Yeah. Being the ONLY librarian and deciding what to buy! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/25 "2002-04-05T22:59:04Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by genie \* > \*\* Is there any better thing than ransacking the new book shelf before the library opens…?_\* Yeah. Being the ONLY librarian and deciding what to buy! ---
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/26 "2002-04-05T23:02:59Z")
Librarian. Neat. Go to college but without classes, homework, or tests. Super neat. Back in 1962-1963 (if I did it in my senior year, and I think I did), I was a student assistant in my high school library. I didn’t get to do much besides check books out, check books in, and shelve books, but it was still fun. We didn’t have any sort of computers in the library, so the only interesting technology we had was the big stapler we used to reinforce the spines of paperback books. That was a good year. Makes me wonder why I never seriously considered a degree in library science. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/27 "2002-04-05T23:17:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doubting Robert \* > \*\*That was a good year. Makes me wonder why I never seriously considered a degree in library science. \*\* Probably because what you just described is nothing like being a librarian. What you describe is a lot like being a page. That is fun, if you like minimum wage. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/28 "2002-04-06T00:39:34Z")
Welcome to the fold. We custodians of the world’s culture are a unique and peculiar lot. Congrats! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/29 "2002-04-06T03:51:29Z")
While I was in nursing school I worked in the college library, first at the main desk, then in periodicals and finally in the computer lab. It was great. I did my homework, read best-sellers and looked at a million magazines. I played online and Doped like crazy. I got several really good dates out of working at the library. I went dancing with one guy who kept saying “Wow. You don’t LOOK like a librarian.” I should have worn my glasses… ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/30 "2002-04-06T15:53:58Z")
I have been one for six years now, (hard to believe) and while I enjoy it, the internet has definitly changed the field. I am doing much less “true” reference work and a lot more computer training and instruction. While I do enjoy doing that, the rest of my duties are becoming less challenging and more repetitive. I have considered trying to get a university position, but so far have not had much luck. I am also considering teaching ESL overseas because I am not feeling professionally challenged anymore. Also I feel that where I currently work, the admin. is pushing us in the wrong direction and is out of touch with modern libraries and librarianship. That being said, there is nothing else I would rather do, and while I will never get rich at it, I do have a lot of job satisfaction. ---
**Author:** ![finnofranco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@finnofranco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/finnofranco)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849/31 "2002-04-06T17:24:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zap\_Rowsdower \* > **I am doing much less “true” reference work and a lot more computer training and instruction.** I don’t really even have interactions with patrons outside of e-mail. I did do circulation, but I never really did much reference. Since I received my MLS, I have found myself building library web pages and working on interactive virtual libraries. One cool thing is that in the U.S. Federal Government, where I work, it is becoming more and more the norm that the libraries take the lead in overall web-page design and maintenance. Although this sort of deviates from traditional librarianship, it does serve to recognize the value of librarians as knowledge brokers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-a-librarian-woo/101849.md?page=1)