March of the Librarians

August 28, 2007 8:55 AM

March of the librarians: "Twice a year, tens of thousands of librarians make a trek across the United States to a meeting of the ALA. How they know to congregate in the same spot, no one knows. They come to learn, to network, to collect free stuff, and possibly to mate." (YouTube)
posted by Orb (30 comments total)

Librarians are hiding something.
posted by Bromius at 8:58 AM on August 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

SSSSSHHHHHHH!!!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:03 AM on August 28, 2007 [3 favorites]

Needs more jessamyn.
posted by dersins at 9:05 AM on August 28, 2007

Damn, I was hoping it'd be about this ALA convention.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:05 AM on August 28, 2007

Wait, I thought this was about Napoleon Bonaparte?
posted by thecaddy at 9:07 AM on August 28, 2007

"The librarians have not seen the polar bear. Moving slowly, he advances on them, his white coat providing the natural camouflage that makes these mighty bears such effective hunters."

"He bides his time, cautiously moving in on them until he's close enough to strike! He tears off at a gallop, and the librarians, terrified at the predator in their midst, begin collecting their tote bags and water bottles, looking for public transportation and hailing taxis. "

"The bear has caught an older male, possibly a reference librarian from the Californian coast. He will sit here and feed on his catch until nightfall, when he will seek shelter. The librarians will stay at the perimeter of the conference center, keeping a wary eye on the polar bear"

*flute music/ fade out*
posted by boo_radley at 9:07 AM on August 28, 2007 [11 favorites]

i went into the library the other day and ask the librarian HAVE YOU ANY BOOK 'S ON SHELF'S
posted by baker dave at 9:08 AM on August 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

The penguins were cuter. And waddled less.
posted by djgh at 9:19 AM on August 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Outstanding. My brother the company librarian will love it. Thanks. Librarians, by the way, are often the only people standing between the Bush Gang and civil liberties.
posted by etaoin at 9:24 AM on August 28, 2007

I hold the rank of Colonel* in ALA. When I attend meetings, there's a lot of shouting and confusion. Then the purges begin.

* Somebody's not very picky when it comes to approving honorifics!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 9:25 AM on August 28, 2007

LOLBrarians.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:29 AM on August 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

the necessities of life: coffee. food. e-mail.

yep, sums it up.
posted by desjardins at 9:36 AM on August 28, 2007

All I know is that in my library, Gumby and Pokey, pop in and out of all the books. They got rowdy with the Bukowski
and got real depressed during ' The Last Exit to Brooklyn'.
Pokey just about snuffed it when he went thru the entire
Flannery O'Conner section.
posted by doctorschlock at 9:48 AM on August 28, 2007

aren't all professional conventions about learning, networking, collecting free stuff and possibly mating?
posted by bruce at 9:49 AM on August 28, 2007

Thanks for the post! I sent it to all of my librarian and librarian-wannabe friends. And kept trying to see if I could spot any that I knew...no such luck.
posted by fuzzbean at 9:54 AM on August 28, 2007

aren't all professional conventions about learning, networking, collecting free stuff and possibly mating?

You can strike the last two words when you're talking about software engineer conferences. And maybe the first, if it's held in an exotic location.
posted by cmonkey at 10:17 AM on August 28, 2007

By "first" I mean "learning" because I didn't spend any time at the expressing thoughts through language convention.
posted by cmonkey at 10:18 AM on August 28, 2007

That convention definately needed more hot librarians to have adventures with.

Was sorta funny though. Thanks.
posted by elendil71 at 10:46 AM on August 28, 2007

Crap, that above link to "hot librarians" brought up some pRon pop-ups after I had posted, although the pix itself is totally safe (just a Rachel Weisz studio shot). May want to avoid. Sorry about that.
posted by elendil71 at 10:54 AM on August 28, 2007

Goddammit where's my mate?!?! Did I go to the wrong sessions or something? Should have dropped in on "The Future of Metadata"? I mean, that Google guy was pretty hott, but a tad aloof.
posted by unknowncommand at 11:09 AM on August 28, 2007

MrMoonPie, the sequel Grand March of the Librarians is about the DC conference
posted by Megafly at 11:13 AM on August 28, 2007

Sweet, Megafly! I saw the corner outside of the building where I work, and recognized two people. Thanks!
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:53 AM on August 28, 2007

aren't all professional conventions about learning, networking, collecting free stuff and possibly mating?

And drinking. Otherwise yes, and the interesting thing is watching people navigate as all those objectives converge in a big group of people in one space. Or even better-- figuring out who's working on one of those objectives while pretending to work on another.
posted by Tehanu at 12:31 PM on August 28, 2007

I read many, many posts in the early 1990s on the BML (the bears' mailing list, one of the first efforts to build the then-nascent "bear community" among gay men of, or seeking, that physical type) from a certain librarian from Kansas State who, at every ALA conference, set his hotel room up as an "orgy room." And from his reports, it was very busy. "Bear" librarians are so common that the term "liBEARian' was all over the BML. Good times.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 1:24 PM on August 28, 2007

I mean, that Google guy was pretty hott, but a tad aloof.

The vendor booths are where the real eye candy is.
posted by blucevalo at 3:19 PM on August 28, 2007

New Orleans endured the swarm of librarians last year. I actually overheard the following while hitting on one of the hot ones:

Librarian 1: We could go to Bourbon Street again.
Librarian 2: *makes a face* Oh, I'm not sure. It's so...
Librarian 1: Please don't say what I think you're going to say.
Librarian 2: It's just so loud.
posted by honeydew at 3:44 PM on August 28, 2007 [3 favorites]

This was very charming. Librarians are my favorite.
posted by Shakeer at 5:10 PM on August 28, 2007

Awesome. Great video.
posted by pril at 7:22 PM on August 28, 2007

Wait, I thought this was about Napoleon Bonaparte?

Sorry, thecaddy, you're thinking of:
La Marche de l'empereur.

I quite liked the book cart drill teams, myself. e.g.
Gett Down With Your Funky Shelf

See also:
Librarians - Try to Connect with your Patrons
and
Gorilla Librarian
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:00 PM on August 28, 2007

"Bear" librarians are so common that the term "liBEARian' was all over the BML.

That stuff still goes on, I think even with some of the same people. Most of the hot librarian action (that I am aware of) is along these lines. Everyone gets that Borges quote wrong.

I wasn't at either of those conferences, but it's uncanny how many people you recognize once you've been to more than a few of them. People have been sending me this link for months and this is the first time I've watched it, so thanks.
posted by jessamyn at 7:43 AM on August 29, 2007