Becoming a Librarian

So, Keith Richards, you want to be a librarian? (He says he does.) Here's the rules:

1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his [or her] book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. The library is a growing organism.

These rules were written by A.S. Ranganathan, librarian, and published in 1931. That's all you need. The rest, as they say, is commentary.

The coolest librarian I know is Nancy Pearl, the real life model for the Librarian Action Figure. She was the first to introduce the concept of a community-wide book read, which has since spread around the world.

Here's a photo of us together.

When the Librarian Action Figure came out, it was criticized for looking stereotypically "librarian". Nancy says that the original dress was only dowdy when it was re-created in plastic. I say she's info-science hot.

I have three of these. When we decorated a book cart in the Pimp My Bookcart contest run by the library comic strip Unshelved, it was made into a pirate ship, and a Librarian Action Figure was the captain. Aargh.