In my experience, librarians have a very low incidence of mean, but an above-average incidence of dotty. My high-school librarian was an old, fat, mean lady, except that she was mean in that wonderful way that made everyone love her. (My English teacher was the same way.)
In cegep, the head librarian was not mean, or fat, but she was definitely dotty (she also wore leg-of-mutton sleeves and had horn-rimmed glasses on a crystal-beaded glasses cord). She was also quite wonderful.
Since being a librarian requires a Master’s degree, there are very few 23 year old librarians. Unless she skipped a year or something, she’d have to be at least 24-25.
As for me, I’m 27 and look more like Angelina Jolie. 
I have to say that I’ve never even met a librarian who hit the trifecta of old, fat, and mean. I have known librarians of all ages and sizes, but most are pretty nice. All the children’s librarians I’ve ever known have been nice. The OPs experiences probably have more to do with his own behavior than anything else.
The only truly mean librarians I’ve been unfortunate enough to encounter were two women at my old (unbelievably awful) job. One of them was young, fat, and mean; the other was old (well, middle aged), skinny, and extremely mean. The circulation supervisor was fat, mean, and 40-something, but that’s not that old and she wasn’t a librarian anyway. She just worked in a library, which, as Sampiro has already pointed out, isn’t the same thing.
Oh, most modern librarians feel bad about the whole shushing thing, but sometimes we have to do it. See, most patrons WANT the library to be quiet. If people are being too noisy then others are going to complain. Heck, they’ll complain about too much noise even in areas that aren’t designated quiet areas – there was a recent Pit thread by someone who was upset about people talking too loudly in the library’s cafe.
I’m more of a shrieking, “STOP RUNNING!”.
Why does being a librarian require a Master’s degree? I don’t mean to be judgemental (there are plenty of other jobs that I don’t think need a degree at all), but it seems a bit unnecessary.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
You said a libraryful. In fact I find that true of many people with fascinating passions or interests. Most often the reason they have developed and cultivated those passions is that people have somehow failed them. They could add so much richness to the world, but neither they nor the world really give a damn.
Wonderful! Seeing rewordings of that song never gets old.
I have to say, I’ve never met a fat librarian. I’ve met nice ones and grumpy ones, and I’ve met young ones and old ones, but not fat ones. Heck, never anything above an average weight, and most well under that line.
I think one person’s strictness - necessary to keep the rules, because as said otherwise the patrons will ignore you - is another person’s meanness. (Esp. if the first person is a librarian chastising a patron, and the second person is a patron being chastized/thrown out).
I’m confused about the Master’s degree, though - don’t you have a graduated system? So it’s only a full (proper) librarian with a Master’s degree, or some worker in a library?
In Germany, we have a three-level system: Library assistant, which is two years of training, open to people who finished at least Realschule. They do the low-level average daily stuff, including cataloging and easy reference questions.
Dipl. Librarian - people who finished Gymnasium (Advanced high school) and went to advanced Acadmey, finishing with a Diploma paper. They do advanced cataloging, reference questions, keywords and personal management. They may lead smaller libraries.
high-level Libarians - people who studied at University until at least Diploma, and then added a course in librarianship. They usually do aquisition, keywords and indexing, personal managment and lead bigger libraries.
I know a guy who became a librarian with only a bachelors degree in history. He worked there for 3 or 4 years and then the position came open, he applied, and they gave it to him. This was at a municipal library in a city of 250,000.
My husband is a librarian. He is neither old nor fat (nor a woman) but he is mean to the kids. 
Information is a huge area to study. Here is a course list that gives you a pretty good idea of what librarians study.
People say this a lot, and it’s because they don’t understand what is involved in being a librarian. The person sitting at the front desk checking out books is, in most cases, NOT a librarian. That job doesn’t require a Master’s degree, or any degree really. I was a library volunteer in the 5th grade, so I can say from personal experience that even a 10 year old can handle checking books in and out. But working at the circulation desk doesn’t make someone a librarian, just like being the receptionist at a dentist’s office or even a dental hygienist doesn’t make you a dentist.
An actual librarian needs specialized training because the job involves a lot more than “These are due on the 21st”. Keeping a library in operation involves a lot of the same tasks that go into any business or non-profit organization, plus some things that are specific to libraries. A librarian has to manage the collection of books (and movies, magazines/journals, etc.) at the library. This includes purchasing new materials and getting rid of old ones, always keeping in mind the needs of the patrons as well as space and budget constraints. Journals need to be bound into volumes and old but worthy books need to be repaired. New books need to be cataloged, which is harder than you might think. Even with an MLS I wouldn’t consider myself qualified to do anything more than copy-cataloging* although I was required to take a cataloging course as part of my Master’s degree program.
My training and experience involves mostly reference work, which means helping patrons with their research questions. As a librarian at a university my job involves assisting students, faculty, and to a lesser extent local citizens with their research. Believe me, the degree (and my previous work experience) comes in handy here. Many patrons are confused or unsure about what they need, so I have to get to the bottom of that before I can even begin looking things up for them. And I am very, very good at looking things up in all kinds of places. I can find information that even professors can’t track down on their own.
I also have to stay on top of new technology and possess a good understanding of copyright/plagiarism issues. I prepare bibliographies of work on particular subjects of interest to faculty and researchers at my institution. I do some web design and create both print and online resource guides and instructional materials. I regularly lead workshops on everything from how to use a particular article database to how to choose a good research topic for a paper, and have also taught for-credit classes at the undergraduate level. I have faculty status at my current job and am expected to serve on committees and conduct my own research the same as professors do, although this is not true at every library. At my last job librarians were considered staff, not faculty, and did not have these responsibilities.
I have never worked as a public librarian, but their duties are somewhat different and involve more reader’s advisory work – that’s keeping up with new popular fiction and non-fiction and recommending good books to people based on their tastes and interests. Public library work also naturally involves dealing with the public, including members of the public that most other people choose to avoid.
Working in an archive, a law library, a music library, a digital library, or other specialized libraries that I’m probably forgetting all require additional training and experience. Law librarians are often required to hold a JD in addition to their MLS. School librarians (K-12) are often required to hold a teacher’s license.
It depends on the library, but as far as I know when there is a graduated system in place there are library workers and then different ranks of librarians who do have Master’s degrees. For instance, a new librarian who just finished up his/her Master’s degree might be hired at the rank of Assistant Librarian and then later promoted to Associate Librarian. But without the Master’s degree you don’t normally have the word “Librarian” in your title at all.
This is unlikely. Not totally impossible, but definitely unusual. I am guessing that your friend’s official job title did not actually include the word “Librarian”.
*This is essentially copying a catalog record from another library that owns the same book and making at most minor changes. It’s a LOT easier than cataloging a new book from scratch.
I’m not seeing teh hawt.
That’s because my picture’s not up there.
And while I can’t vouch for the Jessica Alba look-a-likes, there are plenty of 24-25ish year old hottie librarians. You just have to know where to look (hint, they’re usually all in the children’s section).
I’m a circulation clerk at my local public library and have been working there for 3 years. I can tell you that it’s definitely not just checking books in and out. We have a machine for that and it’s a machine’s job. Being a circulation clerk is more than that. We assign library cards, fill out forms, keep the database in order, handle people’s fines, handle damaged books, handle items returned with parts missing (like an empty DVD case), cool people down when they’re angry over fines, etc etc. We also have a hand in developing policies related to circulation, as in who can get a library card, etc. No, it doesn’t require a degree of any sort but it is much more than just checking books out. When a patron comes to the desk and all I have to do is check their books out, I’m happy - it’s an odd moment in the day.
I love working circ. I would hate it if it were just checking in and out books.
I make it a point to smile at everyone.
Each of us circulation clerks also have other duties in addition to working at the desk. I handle all of the library’s periodicals among other duties. We also handle some reference inquiries. It’s not an easy job and it definitely doesn’t involve sitting around all day.
But I am mean to the kids, when they deserve it. The kid who rode his scooter through the whole place and then spit on the kids’ books and denied it yesterday deserved it. 
If kids stop what they’re doing, though, they get a smile and a “thank you.”
Thank you, XJETGIRLX, and Ave, Vox -
Degreed librarians aren’t low-level city functionaries who don’t just buy what Barnes and Noble and Borders tell them to. Would you like your good public library to be outsourced to a major corporation whose job it was simply to shelve books, put magazines in sleeves, and check public computers for viruses? Good public (thank you, Lamia) librarians bring two things to the table: professional education AND generalized knowledge about stuff. “Stuff”, of course, means EVERYTHING. Good librarians often have to unclog a bathroom toilet and determine the correct declination of a roofline for solar panels in the course of a shift. Without formal training in either task. Good librarians know how to teach themselves tasks fast.
That doesn’t mean a good public librarian becomes good fast. It takes about five years in the role to get good. A librarian comes in with professional education in the master’s degree and some specialty in the undergraduate degree, and slowly learns the community - history and current businesses and inhabitants and all of the “players” in the game - and its needs. By synthesizing knowledge, experience, and daily application and applying it to the environment, your librarian becomes good. Or not.
Did I mention a sense of humor, with an inclination toward black humor, helps a lot in a librarian’s formation? It helps keep the poker face when questions about tongue studs and fellatio come up.
Because all the good librarians are here at my library. They said they didn’t like you.
I’m sorry, looking at my post again it does seem like I’m rather down on circulation staff, which wasn’t my intent. I’ve just heard a little too much “Why do you need a degree to stamp books?” IRL, and since I’ve always worked in academic libraries most of the check in/check out is handled by students with few other responsibilities. They also do shelving, but that’s about it.
My point was that while there is such a thing as a job where you don’t do much more than check out books, that’s not what being a librarian is. (It isn’t what being a circulation clerk is either, but I’ll get to that in a moment.) It’s not even much of a job really, it’s typically just a few hours a week and may even be performed by unpaid volunteers. I’ve sometimes heard patrons refer to these people as librarians, as in “That librarian at the desk told me…”, but they aren’t. We just call them “student workers” where I work, but at public libraries they’re usually called library pages. They’re often high school students. See here for an example of page requirements and duties.
A library assistant/aide/clerk has a lot more responsibilities than a page. I was trying to allude to this with my receptionist/dental hygienist/dentist analogy, but I realize I wasn’t very clear. Being a library assistant is usually a full or half-time job. A BA is sometimes required, but it’s expected that most of the necessary training will be on-the-job. A library assistant will spend some time checking books in and out but is also responsible for the kinds of tasks StarsApart described:
*Other duties may include handling Inter-Library Loan requests, Web design, organizing displays, placing orders for both books and office supplies, supervising volunteers, or handling some reference questions as StarsApart also mentioned.
When I was starting off in library school the head librarian from one of the local publics came in to talk to my class. She worked at the branch in what was considered the rougher part of town. This woman had formerly been a social worker, and although she didn’t put it this way herself it sounded to me like her job as a librarian was sometimes pretty similar to being a social worker. She often had to help patrons find out about and contact various local government and non-profit agencies that could help them.
Some of these people just needed basic information, but others were in very bad situations indeed. The librarian told us a story that made a big impression on me about a battered wife who went out to get the mail one morning and decided she couldn’t go back. She just kept walking until she came to the library, then she went in and asked for help. The librarian got her in touch with an area women’s shelter, and they sent a cab to come get the woman.
God bless public librarians. I don’t think I could handle it myself, I need the protection of my ivory tower. 
Although even in academia we’re not totally cut off from reality – we have homeless people coming in because they have no place else to go, people looking at porn on public computers, students getting drunk in the bathrooms or having sex in the study rooms, etc.
*And horrible puns, don’t forget the horrible puns! Although I have not yet personally caught any students having sex in the library (it’s usually one of the library assistants who stumbles across these things), I have a special pun prepared just in case. I’m happy to share it with anyone who needs one in reserve for such situations:
“Alright kids, break it up, this ain’t the Library of Congress!”
Did I mention that the circulation staff are the people who actually run a public library? I commute in from a distance but the circ staff are local to the community. They are far better tuned into the needs of the community than I could ever be and I look to them for advice all the time. We watch the backs of one another.