the loveliest librarian

I’ve always had the greatest respect for Mrs. Canard, but it doubled over the last week. The woman must have worked nonstop for the last thirty years. Being a librarian is way tougher than I ever imagined.

In addition to answering questions over the phone and in person, most of which people could have used Google for, there was an extraordinarily long list of tasks that must be performed each day. From cataloguing and reviewing titles to researching and managing receipts of purchased items. Then there are adult and children’s programs, and maintaining the collections. This is a private library and she had several collections from the literary and art worlds.

Overwhelming, to say the least. [p. 161]

Title: Like a Charm
Creator: Havens, Candace, 1963-
Publisher: Berkley Books
Date: 2008
Type: Text

Julia spent the rest of the afternoon at the reference desk. She liked helping people find what they were looking for, and she liked the fact that a library was designed to make finding information easier. No putting a purple book on the shelf by the window just because it looked pretty there. No sticking another tome on the bottom because it had bad energy.

No, in a library, there was a logical plan. Call her weird, but Julia loved the Dewey Decimal System. At one time, she’d considered becoming a cataloger before deciding she preferred working with the public.

Because the Serenity Falls Public Library wasn’t large enough to have a separate readers’ advisory librarian to deal with fiction requests, Julia handled those as well. Which is how she came to be speaking to Mabel about a mystery she was looking for, one she’d seen in a book display the library had a few weeks ago.

“It has a red cover.” Mabel fingered her pink curls as if doing so might prompt her memory. “I do remember that much. And the title had something to do with a place.” [p. 135-136]

Title: Good Girls Do
Creator: Linz, Cathie
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Date: 2006
Type: Text

She was completely unaware that her particular level of dishevelment, normally caused from thinking about sculpture while assigning call numbers, worked to imbue her bookish physical authority with such a level of chaos that men assumed she was a slut. Her easiness was further particularized, however, with a cool distance that arose from her own intense ambitions. Making art meant she had to keep a lot of herself for herself. The result was that as Audrey was chewing on a pencil, thumbing through an old edition on Kinetic Art, men watched thinking, “I’m a bad boy, she’d fuck me, and she wouldn’t call the next day because she’d be doing something smart and righteous.” Her set up was, to be blunt, irresistible. Many men in her life had been fascinated with the librarian stereotype.

Assumptions had run rampant that, sexually, Audrey’s co-workers should all have some kind of Jackie Bouvier perspective, infamously described by Gore Vidal as a notion that sex was untidy and therefore unappealing to the ultra-fastidious. Many times, Audrey’s inherent sexuality surprised and delighted her partners. She functioned like a properly ordered card catalogue. The neat logic to her approach and system made for a more direct and efficient interaction between patron and product. Audrey’s sexual encounters almost always ended in mutual orgasm. [p. 26-27]

Title: Sexy Librarian: A Novel
Creator: Weist, Julia
Publisher: Ellen Lupton
Date: 2008
Type: Text

He looked around the room and clicked his tongue in patent disapproval. “Oh my! You have let things slip, haven’t you?”

My cheeks flushed, even though I didn’t have any reason to be ashamed of the basement. Once a librarian, always a librarian, I guess. The cascading books did make me feel vaguely uneasy. Like I’d been caught red-handed ducking out of work early, leaving part of my job undone.

Wait.

A statue of a cat had just transformed into a living, breathing man before my very eyes, and I was worried about shelving books according to the Dewey Decimal system? I shook my head. “Just a second,” I said. “Before you start to criticize me, let’s get a couple of things straight. First, I take it you’re a familiar?”

“And I take it you’re a witch.”

“No, I’m a librarian.” [p. 51-52]

Title: Girl’s Guide to Witchcraft
Creator: Klasky, Mindy L.
Publisher: Red Dress Ink
Date: 2006
Type: Text

Thanks to his mother, who had taken Emma under her wing after Teddy’s death and mentioned her occasionally in her letters, Sam knew she still lived in Serenity and still worked at the town’s library, where she’d recently been promoted to head librarian. She was still single, as well, but lived quietly in the small house she’d bought a couple of years ago.

A steady, responsible young woman making a decent, respectable life for herself despite the tragedy she had suffered. A woman who should, by all accounts, want nothing to do with the likes of him.

So why had she written to him out of the blue?

Title: The Major and the Librarian
Creator: Benjamin, Nikki
Publisher: Silhouette
Date: 1999
Type: Text

As he halted before her, though, Rory, well… halted. Because he vaguely realized that she was standing on a rung at such a height as to put her thigh directly at his eye level. And, less vaguely, he realized that there was a side slit in her straight, black skirt. It was conservative enough to be acceptable for a librarian’s wardrobe, but open just now — thanks to her position on the ladder — in such a way as to make a professor of history take notice. And somehow, this particular professor of history found the sight of Miss Thornbury’s leg to be strangely… arousing?

Oh, surely not. [p. 44]

Title: The Temptation of Rory Monahan
Creator: Bevarly, Elizabeth
Publisher: Silhouette
Date: 2001
Type: Text

That was one of the delightful things about her job. It brought her in touch with so many people, all—or almost all—of whom made her not only feel welcome but that she was doing something really worthwhile.

She gave a little sigh of pleasure as she unlocked the library door. She loved working here and she loved the work itself. [p. 8]

Title: Jan Marlowe, Hospital Librarian
Creator: Malcolm, Margaret
Publisher: Harlequin Books (Firm)
Date Issued: 1976
Date Copyrighted: 1960
Type: Text

“Did you take the library job?” he asked, giving her small hand a quick squeeze. “Or did old lady Bender scare you off?”

Jinny looked up at him and said lightly, “That’s my new boss you’re talking about. I took the job, and I know I’ll like it. I won’t regret it.”

Joe’s mouth tightened. “I hope not,” he said. “Just remember that when you want to go somewhere some Saturday night and have to work.

He just doesn’t understand, she thought sadly. He can’t grasp how I feel about books and the library, and the hush and marvel of it…everything in the world you want to know, right there between covers! All the wonderful thoughts and beautiful deeds. The old books with their dark covers and thin paper, and the new ones with their bright dust jackets. The people who simply must read all the new books, and the determined old people like Mrs. Johnson and Mr. Boyce, who are catching up and reading all the classics they promised themselves they’d read someday, when they found the time. Why can’t I make him see? Why does he see things only in terms of practicality? [p. 18-19]

Title: Jinny Williams, Library Assistant
Creator: Temkin, Sara A.
Creator: Hovell, Lucy A.
Publisher: J. Messner
Date: 1962
Type: Text

Book in hand, she stooped to the lower shelf, only a couple of inches from the floor. “Darn!” she muttered, rising quickly. “There goes a perfectly bran’-new stocking!”

“Yeah,” Vicky said grimly, “this is no job for hosiery. I’d go bare-legged if the Chief would let me; which he won’t. Do you wear garters?”

Una, ruefully examining the extent of her disaster, said, “Yes.”

“Your socks stand a better chance if they’re rolled. I have some darning silk in my locker; I’d better go down with you. Walk stiff-legged: don’t bend your knee.”

Giggling, they slipped down the stairway, almost colliding at the foot with a tall youth who was ascending with an armload of books. He stepped aside to let them pass, then went on up with his head in the air.

“Who’s he?” Una asked.

“Ross Ashcomb, one of Us. The Boy Page. He really does a lot of other things, too, but page is his official rank. He works in the reference department and despises girls and ignorance.” [p. 26]

Title: Bright Heritage
Creator: Provines, Mary Virginia
Publisher: Longmans, Green
Date: 1939
Type: Text

Amy had felt that way from the morning twelve years before when, her face tear-streaked, she had wandered into the warmth of the library. It was a bitter, snowy day. The library was deserted. Miss Adamson, pudgy and white-haired even then, had taken the miserable little girl back into the workroom and listened as Amy poured out her tale of woe. She had been punished by her aunt for reading instead of doing her chores. Her cousins teased her because she didn’t like playing their wild, boisterous games, and she had at last decided to run away. Miss Adamson had washed her visitor’s tear-stained face, fed her part of her lunch, gave her a copy of Charlotte’s Web to read, and finally asked Amy if she would like to help her here in the library.

Amy had been speechless with joy at the offer, and forgetting about running away, had almost happily gone back to the house on Bent Street. She couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful than spending her time in the peace and quiet of the library, seeing all the new books before anyone else, even perhaps being allowed to peek occasionally between the fascinating, forbidden covers in the adult section. Twelve years later, with a library degree finally triumphantly achieved, Amy hadn’t changed her mind. She still couldn’t imagine ever wanting to work anywhere except in a library. [p. 5-6]

Title: Librarian With Wings
Creator: Thum, Marcella
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Date: 1967
Type: Text

“A lot of people,” he went on, “have quite the wrong idea about librarians. They think of them as glorified shop assistants. But there’s much more to it than that. There’s a great deal of work behind the scenes which the public doesn’t see, and a librarian has to be a very knowledgeable person.”

“Does one have to take examinations?” asked Deborah.

“Yes indeed. And there are certain qualifications necessary before you enter for the Library Association Examinations. What’s more, you won’t get a good post unless you pass them. To begin with, you must have your G.C.E. with five passes at ordinary level, one of these being in English Language. Later on you will have to show a certificate in a modern foreign language, so it will be useful if you have already got that too.”

Deborah was thankful to realize that she was suitably qualified. But she was growing a little uneasy. The interview was going to take longer than she’d though, and she was petrified she’d miss her appointment at the hairdresser’s. Tonight was the Old Boys’ Dance at Cranworth Grammar School and Nicholas was taking her. Michael would probably be there, too, and she wanted to look her best. [p. 8-9]

Title: A Library Life for Deborah
Creator: Owens, Joan Llewelyn
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Date: 1957
Type: Text

She was proud of her work. Her father, now dead, had been a full Professor of Literature at Caldwell, the local college, and Kathy had grown up surrounded by books. It had seemed the most natural thing in the world for her to go east, to Columbia, after leaving Caldwell with a Bachelor of Arts, and to take a degree in Library Science. And how much she had learned! In the beginning, like so many other people, a “librarian” had meant simply the attendant behind the desk in a reading room. Only gradually had she come to know of the enormously varied duties and opportunities in library work, and of the rewards, other than money.

In the Rutherford Library the professional librarians, at least those working with the public, usually wore neat blue smocks. So the blue smock, for Kathy, had become a symbol; a symbol of service to that great portion of humanity which struggled to lift itself from the mire of ignorance through reading.

It was a thought she kept to herself lest she be laughed at and chided for girlish enthusiasm. To many librarians, as to people in all walks of life, their work was simply a chore by which they earned a living. Not so with Kathy. [p. 98-99]

Title: The Blue Smock
Creator: Sayle, Helen
Publisher: Arcadia House
Date: 1958
Type: Text

“I’ve been thinking about being a librarian. I’ve even been reading up on it. Did you know that there are librarians in these United States who make eighteen thousand dollars a year?”

Don whistled. “I always listed them with teachers and preachers as the downtrodden of the earth, so far as salary was concerned.”

“I don’t mean that many of them make money like that. I suppose the Library of Congress pays its head man that, and maybe the library in New York and the big ones like that. But all the big library heads, like our Mr. Settle, make around ten thousand a year. I think that’s what he makes.”

“So you think you’d like being head of a big library?” Don asked, more to keep the conversational ball rolling than that he really cared.

“No, I don’t,” Kitsy protested. “I doubt if they’d give a job like that to a woman, unless she was a hundred years old and as efficient as the mischief. I thought maybe a school librarian. Maybe in a public school. A lot of them make five thousand. And then I’d be teaching, too.” [p. 187]

Title: Kitsy Babcock, Library Assistant
Creator: Sargent, Joan, 1905-
Publisher: Avalon Books
Date: 1958
Type: Text

“The trouble is we seem to get all the clottish borrowers in on Friday evenings,” said Mrs. Potter. “Or perhaps it’s just that I notice them more and have less patience with them when the place is crowded.”

“I think I remember most of the tricks,” said Molly. “I’ll be on the look-out for them.”

There was certainly quite a number of lazy borrowers who tried by various dodges to get Molly to choose their books to save them the trouble of thinking. She found it wasn’t easy, in the rush, to distinguish them from borrowers who genuinely and justifiably needed help and advice, or who really had forgotten their spectacles and were not just pretending they had. There was the usual number of queue-jumpers; a few uncivil borrowers and a good scattering of children who had been sent to fetch books for parents, relatives and neighbours. There were also, of course, the inevitable few who had lost their tickets. Molly mustered her tact cheerfulness and patience to deal with these, but lost all patience with a man who, on leaving the library and being asked to produce his borrower’s ticket, declared that Molly had not given it to him when he came in. Molly distinctly remembered doing so and refused to let him take out a book until he had searched all his pockets. This procedure yielded no ticket, and neither did a quick search of floor, shelves and counter. The man was adamant and rude. Molly grew furious. Then, suddenly, her memory clicked back to a similar incident two years previously.

“Your hat!” she said.

The man looked at her as though she had taken leave of her senses.

“Did you, by any chance, stick the ticket in your hat?” she asked, pointing to the trilby which he held in his hand.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” said the man, holding up his hat.

“You did! Look!” said Molly triumphantly. There indeed, tucked securely into the ribbon band, was the missing ticket.

With a curt “good-night” the man handed over the ticket and stalked out of the building. Molly laughed and, oddly enough, after that felt much more cheerful and in command of the situation. [p. 120-121]

Title: Molly Qualifies as a Librarian
Creator: Lonsdale, Bertha
Publisher: Bodley Head
Date: 1957
Type: Text

“What do you do?” asked Cindi.

“I’m a librarian.”

Cindi looked aghast. “Oh, no,” she said, covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you about having sex with Nick.

Again, Jessie had the urge to put a big piece of duct tape over Cindi’s mouth. She squinted at her.

“I said I’m a librarian,” she clarified. “Not a virgin.” [p. 62]

Title: I Will Survive
Creator: Connolly, Samantha
Publisher: Harlequin Books (Firm)
Date: 2004
Type: Text

Caroline MacWilliams would certainly not have been Lysander Bayard’s idea of a suitable young lady librarian. She was much too attractive, to begin with. Father would have disapproved in no uncertain terms of the discreet touch of make-up that enhanced her large hazel eyes. He would have objected to the coral-pink lipstick that contrasted so delightfully with the healthy tan of her clear skin.

He would have frowned on the jaunty white straw cap that perched on her short-cropped brown hair. He would certainly have gasped in Victorian outrage at the scantiness of her cherry-colored skirt, showing legs that never belonged behind that golden-oak service desk. He would have thought her red-and-navy shoes not at all sensible in spite of their low heels, and her matching handbag much too smart.

Yet Miss Bayard found that all the things here father would have disapproved of added up to a most appealing whole. Caroline’s brand-new diploma in library science was convincing, her letters of recommendation reassuring, and her warm smile completely irresistible. Two minutes later, the Bayard Library had a new assistant librarian. [p. 15-16]

Title: Headlines for Caroline
Creator: Hughes, Matilda, 1922-
Publisher: Bouregy
Date: 1967
Type: Text

The door was closed but Isabel could see through the glass that a light was on. She started to knock and then hesitated. Was it a good idea to disturb Miss Roberts before the library officially opened? Yet if she waited all the vacancies might be filled, and this year she wanted so much to be a librarian’s assistant. She didn’t know why for sure except that it would give her more time to be in those magic surroundings. She could never explain to herself why the library affected her the way it did. There were the great rows and rows of volumes, the colors muted and blended until they seemed to be more than just a collection of books. They assumed personalities all their own, like great people she might want to know and be with, hoping that some of the elements which caused the greatness might permeate the atmosphere and enter her own body by osmosis. Whatever the cause, the fact remained that Isabel felt herself a better person, a more inspired student when she was in the library. More than that she felt an uplift to her ambitions and her purpose in life, whatever that might turn out to be, that made it worth while for her to be there even if she did not so much as open a book. [p. 8]

Title: Calling for Isabel
Creator: Jeffries, Virginia Murrill
Publisher: Longmans, Green
Date: 1951
Type: Text

It was only eight thirty in the morning and we didn’t open our doors to the public until nine o’clock, so I had time to straighten up my desk. I was the head of the Reference Department, which meant that in addition to helping people find answers, I also advised Acquisitions of our major reference requirements. It required an enormous amount of reading and a good memory.

I scooted my rolling chair around the reference area, where we had three desks (mine was behind glass walls in the back) and many of the more obvious materials were placed on deep shelves backed by a walnut half wall. After the weekend, things were always in a mess. I love the act of cleaning up. It made me almost as happy as reading in bed or eating a piece of homemade vanilla cake. [p. 6]

Title: The Dewey Decimal System of Love
Creator: Carr, Josephine
Publisher: New American Library
Date: 2003
Type: Text

Isabel was looking about the place, realizing that she had never been inside it before. It was really a delightful little building, with large pleasant windows, a fireplace and mantel at one end, and book shelves around the walls.

Georgia was looking about also. “Where’s the reading room?” she asked. “And the stacks.”

“Reading room!” said Mrs. Hopkinson. “Thank fortune there isn’t any. Folks have to take their books home to read, which is as it should be. And what did you say about stacks? You mean smokestacks? There’s a chimney,” waving her hand toward the fireplace. “But smokestacks go with railroad engines, not with libraries, I guess you’re a little mixed.”

Georgia accepted this rebuff meekly, but tried another question.

“Is there a card catalog?”

“We don’t need one. There the books are, on the shelves, and folks have eyes, don’t they?” Mrs. Hopkinson was getting ruffled. [p. 64-65]

Title: Turn in the Road
Creator: Dickson, Marguerite Stockman
Publisher: Thomas Nelson & Sons
Date: 1949
Type: Text

He expelled a troubled breath. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever take any self-defense classes?”

She seemed to find this question amusing.

He tilted his head. “And that’s funny because…?”

“It’s funny because in my world and my line of work, self-defense is rarely an issue. I’m a librarian,” she clarified. “We tend to level fines, not karate chops.”

Of course. Pretty, shy little Phoebe was a librarian. This was too good. [p. 45]

Title: The Librarian’s Passionate Knight
Creator: Gerard, Cindy
Publisher: Silhouette
Date: 2003
Type: Text

“I just got a call that our regular driver had a slight accident on the way to work. There’s a broken leg to contend with and during the summer months our staff rotates so, because of vacations, we just don’t have a spare driver. I wondered if Cynthia here could fill in.” He turned toward her. “What about it? Think you’d like to try?”

The girl was doubtful. “I’m willing to do anything you think I’m capable of, but I really don’t know too much about Bookmobiles, or the route or anything like that.”

“No difficulty there. We can give you a list of stops and the times for each. You’re certainly familiar with the area around here. Come on and let me show you how the unit operates.”

They went through the connecting door, Cynthia casting a bewildered look behind her at Miss Adams. The Bookmobile was drawn up at the side door.

It was a trimly built vanlike conveyance. At the rear, the doors swung open to show a miniature room equipped with shelves already stocked with books, a tiny desk and racks clipped wherever a stray space presented itself.

“It’s darling! I had no idea you could get so much into such a small space.” [p. 82-83]

Title: The Girl on the Bookmobile
Creator: King, Natalie
Publisher: Avalon
Date: 1964
Type: Text

Their talk was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. Mr. Havelock excused himself as he lifted the receiver. Consternation showed in his face as he listened to the voice at the other end of the line.

“Oh no!” he exclaimed. “Do I understand you to say, Mrs. Archer, that Miss Withers won’t be able to run the Bookmobile, after all? I’m sorry, of course, that her mother is so ill. But that leaves you in quite a predicament, doesn’t it? You are trying to find someone to substitute for a few weeks, eh? What’s that? Miss Withers may not be able to take the job at all, because the doctor has ordered her to take her mother to Arizona as soon after the operation as she is able to travel? Dear me, Mrs. Archer! What will you do?”

He listened attentively for a moment or so. Then he said, “Yes, of course, I’ll be on the lookout for anyone who applies for a teaching job who might conceivably be able to run the Bookmobile for you, until you can find a permanent person. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Archer. Good luck!”

He turned from the telephone with a scowl. “Isn’t that just the way!” [p. 12-13]

Title: Nancy Runs the Bookmobile
Creator: Johnson, Enid, 1892-
Publisher: Messner
Date: 1956
Type: Text

Being a new girl, she realized that the odd jobs were to be hers. The staff members weren’t going out of their way to make her hustle; but it was natural that she should be the one to take care of the little jobs that no one else wanted to tackle, particularly if comfortably seated. She supposed that would be her lot of the summer. In a way her lethargy was so deep that she didn’t care. Being unmindful of it was the easiest way; if she let herself get annoyed she would rankle with the injustice of the whole setup. Miss Nichols was kind, but very busy; the staff members were so busy they could only be casual.

Title: With a High Heart
Creator: De Leeuw, Adèle, 1899-
Publisher: Macmillan
Date: 1945
Type: Text

Jean set off for the long bus trip across town. She felt very important starting off for her first day on her first job. She carried a book as usual, and her lunch just as she had when she left for school. In addition she had a lovely bouquet of Paul Scarlet roses she had picked from the garden to grace the library desk. She was sure everyone must know she was a children’s librarian on her way to work. She felt so much like it!

By chance she sat down beside a young man who was reading a book. Unconsciously she peeked over at the title with that irresistible impulse that bookish people cannot control. It was a Viking Pocket Edition of something, she could tell. She peeked again to get a better look, and saw that it was Rabelais he was reading. Feeling satisfied, now that she knew, she opened her own book, Ruth Sawyer’s Picture Tales from Spain. [p. 18-19]

Title: “Miss Library Lady”
Creator: Pfaender, Ann McLelland
Publisher: J. Messner
Date: 1954
Type: Text

The microfilm reader fascinated Anne. It had been so helpful in the libraries where she had worked the last two summers. But she had never before had the responsibility of a machine, as she did now. She arrived early on her second day and went to the metal cabinet beside the machine to study the films which the library had collected. It still seemed a miracle to her that the contents of a whole book, or a big issue of a newspaper, could be recorded on a small roll of film less than two inches wide. [p. 67]

Title: Anne Fuller, Librarian
Creator: Radford, Ruby Lorraine, b. 1891
Publisher: Avalon Books
Date: 1957
Type: Text