Some books just never fit the mold: They must be experienced individually. However, some of these provide interesting foils to books in other categories.
Lasky, Kathryn. The Librarian Who Measured the Earth. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. Boston, New York, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Co., 1994.
This is perhaps the only fiction book in this study that focusses on a male librarian! He is also the closest we will find to an "academic librarian." Of course, he did live about 2500 years ago in ancient Greece. Eratosthenes became noteworthy less because of his pursuits as a librarian than due to his relatively accurate calculation of the earth's circumference in an age when actual physical measurement of the earth's total size was impossible. His calculations were only about 200 miles off. Throughout the book, he is possessed by curiosity and wonder, and is constantly asking questions. Geography was always his favorite subject in the gymnasium. He was also fond of making lists and organizing information.
He is delighted when asked to become the tutor of Ptolemy III's son, since "[f]or a scholar like himself, Alexandria was the most exciting place to be. It was the center of all learning. It boasted a library and a museum that were the best in the world. All the great questions about science, literature, and history could be asked and researched here." We are constantly reminded that Eratosthenes fit into this environment (community) extremely well. It was, admittedly, a very limited community. We see pictures of the library and learn that it contained 700,000 scrolls, which were organized by 40 librarians, who "just like modern-day librarians, helped readers find what they were looking for and kept the materials in order."
When the head librarian dies, Eratosthenes is appointed to replace him: "For a question asker and a list maker like Eratosthenes, being the head librarian was a dream come true." Not only does he help other scholars, he devotes much energy to finding all information about geography and math, in order to determine the size of the earth. The book carefully describes his experiment, which was based upon the information he had gathered. His role as librarian is to become one of the most notable users of his collection, and thus in a sense a leading member of the community which he serves and of which he is a part. The last page shows him instructing a shepherd boy, while pointing to the sky. Thus, Eratosthenes filled many librarian roles: serving the research needs of others, conducting his own research, and training others to become researchers. All in all, this is a highly unusual book.
Pinkwater, Daniel. Aunt Lulu. Aladdin Books. New York: Macmillan, 1991 (copyright 1988).
Dedicated "To good librarians everywhere."
This book is as unusual as the person it describes. Aunt Lulu is "big and strong,' and she lives with a menagerie, including a cat, a fish, a bird, a mouse, and fourteen dogs. The dogs were her sled-dogs in Alaska when she worked there as a librarian. Each dog has a name (thus, she sees them as individuals within her "community" and not as a jambled mass). While in Alaska, Aunt Lulu used her dogsled to deliver books to the miners who worked at the diggings. The miners, for their part, would become excited at her arrival and ask for all the books they had requested: stories about cowboys, pirates, sweet little kittens, gold miners, wolves, and freezing to death. As the librarian, Aunt Lulu would distribute the new books and collect those that were due. She was always reliable.
Yet, she grows weary of the cold and snow (and miners) and decides to return to Parsippany, New Jersey. At first, she plans to do this alone, but soon finds that she must bring her "family" of dogs with her. The miners come to send her off, and present her with a moose-call as a going-away present. They even offer to bring her a real-live moose, if she wants one. They also indicate that they will miss her (""So we came to say good-bye," Nick said. "We shouted and shot off our guns, like miners do," said Baldy"). Obviously, she has connected with her community. It should be noted, however, that she does have a rather condescending opinion of her clientele (the miners are nice, "but boring."). Back in New Jersey, she takes to travelling around by dogsled, which she uses both in the winter and in the summer--during the latter with wheels added. Eventually, she and her fourteen dogs start to wear sunglasses with pink frames. The last page shows a huskie wearing sunglasses with pink frames.
This book is in many ways a counterweight to The Library. There the "librarian" is shy and remains hidden behind her book(s). Here, the librarian actually goes out to her community (with a bookmobile on skis, so to speak) and engages her community. In fact, in their "boring" lives, she brings a great deal of excitement. Here we have the model of an outwardly directed librarian who understands and serves her community. In the process, she earns their affection and respect.
Mann, Pamela. The Frog Princess? Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 1995.
Dedicated "To all the beautiful librarians."
This is the story of a lonely frog, which is rejected by all its fellow frogs. It's sole reply to everyone is "reddit!" In turn, the frog responds this way to reports of stories about a black horse which boasts of its "beauty," a little chicken which looks at the sky, and a cat which comes wearing boots. They assume the frog has said "read it." Each of them even compares the frog to the lying Pinocchio and his long nose, to which the frog can only say "reddit!" Finally, a prince comes--with a book--to meet this frog that claims to have "read everything." The prince kisses the frog, and after a bright flash, he finds he is face-to-face with a "beautiful young woman." Their exchange is revealing: "'My princess!' he exclaimed. / 'No, your librarian, actually,' she said." Between his love of books and her extensive knowledge of books, they "lived happily ever after."
This book adds little to the discussion on librarians and their communities, or librarians and "control." The one possible extension of this discourse is in the rejection by everyone (except the prince) of the librarian as a "know-it-all." This librarian drives everyone away except the prince, because she her only response to everything is "reddit!" I suppose, one could argue that this shows the librarian who has an independent mind, since the animals reject her because a frog is not supposed to be able to think (analogous to: librarians serve, they do not think ...).
Complements, compliments, annoyances: Matthew Z. Heintzelman
