I cannot believe I just found this article, A Hipper Crowd of Shushers, especially since I troll the NYTimes every day like the liberal I am.

Anyway, when I finished my MA in women’s black, a lot of my classmates went onto library school and loved it.  It was (and is) something I’ve been considering for a long time.  Every time I go to the Brooklyn Central Library, I feel a calm peace within myself.  I know I’m weird.  Anyway,  I’m still hellbent on getting my PhD in American history (or studies), but I have to apply again and all that.  But my intense love of books and libraries makes me second guess myself.  It’s true if I do become a professor, I’ll be spending a whole lot of time in libraries and archives.  It’s not like the two don’t go together.

The odd thing about the article was that it spent a lot of time trying to prove that these librarians seem cool.

On a Saturday, after a day of panels, a group of librarians relaxed and danced at Selam Restaurant. Sarah Mercure nursed a blueberry vodka and cranberry juice and talked about deciding on her career after hearing a librarian who curated a zine collection speak. Pete Welsch, a D.J., spun records and talked about how his interest in social activism, film and music led him to library school.

The article mostly seemed to be concerned with how these people were cool not what they loved about their jobs.

What I did love about the article was dispelling the myth that because google exists, libraries and books aren’t needed.  So not true.  Librarians are so much more relevant today, as they help the patron map through all the information the Internet gives out. While google and wikipedia are great sites, we need help discerning what is “good” information and what is “bad” information.  Fact is getting mixed in with opinion way too much these days.

This page from UIUC’s site (which is the highest ranked information science program I believe) proves how cool Librarians are.  They all discuss their favorite books, libraries and if they dogear their pages.  Totally awesome!