Well, apparently, enough people do to have a contest. Every year the American Library Association, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the New York Times Company take nominations from the general public to recognize their favorite librarian. The winners of the “I Love My Librarian” award receive a $5000 cash award, a plaque, and a $500 stipend to attend the awards ceremony in New York City. Up to ten librarians are selected each year to receive this award.
Not only do average library users love their librarians, authors do also. Why else would so many make a librarian the main character of their books? Love stories, mysteries, bildungsromans, erotic fiction, short stories, suspense . . . Librarians are everywhere!
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld – A librarian becomes first lady. This is a story of survival, of marriage, and self, in the face of extraordinary circumstances.
Bibliophilia: A Novella and Stories by Michael Griffith – You’d never believe what goes on in a college library . . . or maybe you would!
Catalogue of Death by Jo Dereske – A prim and extremely proper librarian and her zany artist friend always find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Luckily, the handsome police chief is on their side.
Freak in the Sheets: Chick-lit with a Twist by MadameK – Looking for something different and exciting in her life, a fun-loving librarian and her best friend decide to open a school to teach people how to pleasure themselves and others.
The Librarian by Larry Beinhart – To earn a bit of extra money, a university librarian takes a job cataloging the library of a conservative political mover and shaker. When he stumbles upon information he shouldn’t have, he lands on Virginia’s Ten Most Wanted Criminals list.
Mad, Bad and Blonde by Cathie Linz – After being left at the altar, our intrepid librarian goes on her honeymoon to Italy alone. With fabulous Italian men around her, she doesn’t remain alone for long . . .
Open Season by Linda Howard – When a bored middle-aged librarian transforms herself into a cougar, she witnesses a crime and gets more than she bargained for.
So, remember that award and feel free to nominate any one of the fabulous librarians here at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. I’m sure they’d appreciate it. I know I would!
-Melissa
Don’t forget Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. One of the more unusual librarian characters and one of my all-time favorites! Niffenegger regularly makes great use of libraries in her books and short stories (look for The Night Bookmobile in Zoetrope v.8 n.4, or the graphic novel version here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/series/nightbookmobile).
Oooh, ooh, and Mel Odom’s Wick Lamplighter series. Fantasy fans should start with The Rover and get to know the intrepid third-level librarian whose love for old legends leads him to epic adventures…
LAV
Of course no library has it, but “Bear” by Marian Engels is amazing.
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