Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Books at work, Reading

Always keep a stack of books on your desk. Though most non-librarians and naive LIS graduate students think that librarians spend their work days reading books, nothing could be further from the truth. While this image is romantic and quaint, the reality is that most librarians spend their days dealing with annoying administrators, attending mind-numbing meetings, and pushing paper of the non-book variety. Keeping a stack of books on your desk will help you maintain the romantic image of librarianship, and should you find yourself (by some stroke of luck) with the opportunity to actually read at work, you'll already have a book within arm's reach. In the meantime, books also make good paperweights.

2 comments:

f is for Fer; he failed to floss said...

Books also make excellent bludgeons. The heavy ones can be difficult to get a grip on and you may need to take a longer swing to build momentum, but your target will experience a come-to-Ranganathan moment like no other at the point of contact.

What a multi-faceted wonder, these things we call books...

Kevin Musgrove said...

A nice pile of books is a really useful tool for the library systems guys: when the dunderhead du jour comes a-wittering by for the umpteenth time that day they'll eventually ask: "what are those books for?" Especially after the experienced systems guy's judicious use of poisonous ripostes and pointed glances at the pile.

"I'm just monitoring your processes for the target review."

Sweet.