“A librarian isn't a clerk who happens to work at a library. A librarian is a data hound, a guide, a Sherpa, and a teacher. ”

Seth Godin

(basically, librarians are ballers) 

“...And so this post will serve to say that we’re okay with all of it, really! The Library would just be a big empty building without you! We’re glad you are here.”

No Need to Apologize to Your Librarian | Eleventh Stack

Some things you don’t need to apologize for are:

  • I don’t have time to read
  • I don’t like to read
  • I haven’t been to the library in a long time
  • I’m sorry to bother you…*
  • I have fines.
  • I can’t find…

*Especially this one.  Do not feel sorry for talking to a library staff member!  You are the reason we are here!  We are glad to hear from you!

“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles. So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”

—Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country 

“We think because we have words, not the other way around, and the greater our vocabulary, the greater our ability to think conceptually. The first people a dictator puts in jail after a coup are the writers, the teachers, the librarians -because these people are dangerous. They have enough vocabulary to recognize injustice and to speak out loudly about it. Let us have the courage to go on being dangerous people.”

—Madeleine L’Engle
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