The Laughing Librarian: A History of American Library Humor

by Jeanette C. Smith

Overview

Despite the stodgy stereotypes, libraries and librarians themselves can be quite funny. The spectrum of library humor from sources inside and outside the profession ranges from the subtle wit of the New Yorker to the satire of Mad. This examination of American library humor over the past 200 years covers a wide range of topics and spans the continuum between light and dark, from parodies to portrayals of libraries and their staffs as objects of fear. It illuminates different types of librarians--the collector, the organization person, the keeper, the change agent--and explores stereotypes like the shushing little old lady with a bun, the male scholar-librarian, the library superhero, and the anti-stereotype of the sexy librarian. Profiles of the most prominent library humorists round out this lively study.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786490561
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	01/10/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	239
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jeanette C. Smith, a Fellow of the Molesworth Institute, received the first-ever Edmund Lester Pearson Library Humor Award for a cautionary essay on the hazards of reading and driving. She has been a librarian since 1973 and a collector of library humor for almost as long. She lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Jeanette C. Smith, a Fellow of the Molesworth Institute, received the first-ever Edmund Lester Pearson Library Humor Award for a cautionary essay on the hazards of reading and driving. She has been a librarian since 1973 and a collector of library humor for almost as long. She lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Foreword by Will Manley     
Foreword by Norman D. Stevens     
Preface     
Introduction     

1. Humors and Blunders     
2. Batgirl Was a Librarian: Library Superheroes     
3. Librarian Types and Stereotypes: She’s a Keeper!     
4. Library Staff: They Also Serve     
5. Shhh! The Unforgivable Sin     
6. Parodies: With Apologies to ...     
7. Edmund Lester Pearson: The Main Guy     
8. Norman D. Stevens and the Molesworth Institute     
9. Will Manley: The Bad Boy     
10. Technology: The Internet’s a Drunk Librarian     
11. Mad Magazine: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Library     
12. The New Yorker: The Smart Set Just Loves to Read     
13. The Fear Factor     
14. For SEX, See the Librarian     
15. Joyfully Subversive     

Notes     
Selected Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

Should be required reading for all librarians and library-school students”—Booklist; “a must have...recommend”—Library History Buff Blog; “Smith charts the largely unexplored territory of library wit and satire, both inside and outside the profession”—C&RL News; “a serious though most readable study of library-related humour...an enjoyable as well as instructive work”—Australian Library Journal; “Smith, presents a history of American library humor from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century that focuses on humor about libraries and librarians”—Reference & Research Book News.

From the Publisher

Smith charts the largely unexplored territory of library wit and satire, both inside and outside the profession

C&RL News

a must have...recommend

Library History Buff Blog

Should be required reading for all librarians and library-school students

Booklist