Library Humor Pathfinder

Scope note

This is a collection of links to internet sources for humor about libraries, librarians, and related topics. This is not a complete list, by any means, but it is meant to be a start. (Something like a Level 8 MARC record.)

Types of humor

My contributions to the world of library humor

In a blatant bit of self-promotion, I will mention that I have created a Librarian's Alphabet. And I finally found a use for the things I learned in my introductory class!

See also my light bulb joke under Quotes and Jokes on this page.

Cartoons

What do Dilbert, Calvin, and Opus do when they need answers? You can look that up in my bibliography of library-related cartoons.

There's another cartoon bibliography on the Web. Steven Bergson's list contains many cartoons I haven't even heard of.... I think I'm envious.

Situational

Reference desk work is also a vital source of humor. Amy demonstrates this in her Love the Liberry blog.

For classic reference stories, the Internet Archive cache of Charles King's Miscommunications in Libraries is a valuable resource. (Internet Archive copy)

For a glimpse at what life is like on the other side of the circulation desk, check out Hypatia's Library Tales (Former Geocities page, now available at the Internet Archive).

School media specialists take note: A.B.Credaro (an "unrestrained teacher librarian") offers Biblia, The Warrior Librarian for your continuing edification. (No longer updated.)

Essays

Have you ever wondered what Nancy Drew did after she left River Heights? For the answers to this and other questions, look at Jennifer Friedman's Library Humor, a collection of humorous, and sometimes pointed, pieces on librarianship.

Quotes and Jokes

The IFLA quotations page is just about the best collection of quotes and jokes I have found. The page is a little long, but it is broken down by subject, so it isn't terribly unwieldy. (Archived at archive.ifla.org as of April 2009.)

Before I found the IFLA site, I was so desperate for library humor that I made up a light bulb joke.

Q. How many catalogers does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Ummm... AACR2r doesn't say. We'd better check the LCRIs to see what the Library of Congress does.

A little lame, but as I said, I was desperate. I also made a reference-type light bulb joke. And then I found the IFLA humour page. Which had funnier reference jokes. I still like my cataloging joke, so I am leaving it here. (Archived at archive.ifla.org as of April 2009.)

For the chronologically challenged, there is Multnomah County Library's KidsPage jokes page - complete with knock-knock jokes. (Internet Archive copy)

Other Webliographies

Yahoo has a category for library humor - Entertainment : Humor : Job Humor : Librarians.

DMOZ's Open Directory project has a section for library humor: Reference: Libraries: Library and Information Science: Librariana: Humor.

Last but not least, tvtropes.org has tropes listed for Librarians (Hot, Magic, Scary), and Libraries (The Library of Babel, Spooky Silent Library).

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