Librarians on Parade

August 5, 2008 8:45 AM

It's that time again. While they aren't otherwise occupied maintaining an open and informed society, and keeping an eye on our first amendment rights, librarians across the country are apparently... breaking out their dance moves.

For the fourth year running, the ALA hosts the national Book Cart Drill Team Competition. Mefi thread from inaugural year here.

Clip shows the winning team from Santa Monica, CA. More information, and links to some of the runners up can be found here, about nine paragraphs down.

posted by froggmaiden (20 comments total)

I hope they don't quit their day jobs.
posted by desjardins at 8:58 AM on August 5, 2008

This sort of thing is why I don't go to ALA, OLA, CLA or any other -LA conference.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:05 AM on August 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Librarians are such a fun, strange breed.
posted by robtf3 at 9:05 AM on August 5, 2008

I'll give you strange, robtf3.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:10 AM on August 5, 2008

*checks jessamyn's blog*
posted by TheNewWazoo at 9:31 AM on August 5, 2008

One of my friends was in the Austin group. I believe they came in second.
posted by kleptolovestory at 9:42 AM on August 5, 2008

Some of us have even had sex! With our shirts off and everything!

*eyeroll*
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:46 AM on August 5, 2008

Get off my hipper-than-thou lawn!
posted by blucevalo at 10:50 AM on August 5, 2008

Some of us have even had sex! With our shirts off and everything!

But quietly, right?
posted by tommasz at 11:19 AM on August 5, 2008 [4 favorites]

I just named all of our book carts this week. The nine general collection reshelving carts are, of course, named after the Fellowship, while the Reference cart is Saruman and Periodicals carts are Smeagol and Gollum. The generic project carts are all Mario characters, so in addition to the plumber and his brother, we have Peach, Bowser, Toad, and Birdo.

It is kind of sick, the love affair between a librarian and their book carts.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:40 AM on August 5, 2008

This sort of thing is why I don't go to ALA, OLA, CLA or any other -LA conference.

I can confidently say that there's been nothing like this at any SLA annual conference I've been to. We did, however, have a field trip to the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame this year in Seattle.
posted by elfgirl at 12:40 PM on August 5, 2008

Quite possibly the geekiest/greatest thing I have seen today.
posted by mediamelt at 12:59 PM on August 5, 2008

I don't get it.
posted by suelange at 1:19 PM on August 5, 2008

Oy ... the things we have to do to keep ourselves in the public eye ... just remember, we can hide your dissertation just as easily as we can find it ...

:-)

*returns to copying data maps and data dictionaries for art department slide digitization project...*
posted by aldus_manutius at 1:27 PM on August 5, 2008

From the front-page text, I thought this would be another DDR-at-the-library post. What a relief.
posted by box at 1:38 PM on August 5, 2008

I read an article in the NYT about how that library totally hired ringers to win that competition, and about how they were all jacked up on ritalin and ginko and kombucha to keep their focus w/o tweaking out.

I mean I didn't, but wouldn't that be a wicked article? Also, does that go on your resume?
posted by TomMelee at 5:22 PM on August 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Haha, librarians rock!
posted by Craig at 8:07 PM on August 5, 2008

I suppose it would be self-incriminating to mention that I have a book truck in my dining room. They were going to throw it out! It followed me home!
posted by QIbHom at 8:38 AM on August 6, 2008

This just adds to why I love librarians so much. Who else could love books as much as I do, and geek out with a book cart like that?
posted by SuzySmith at 9:34 AM on August 6, 2008

I'm pretty sure I recognize people in that video. I'm also convinced that this is TOTALLY the wrong way to bring librarians into the 21st century, but one doesn't want to deprive people of their fun. I have to say ALA was an experience for me: librarians who looked like librarians. Oh well, nothing wrong with joining a profession where *I* am the one who looks 'hip.'
posted by librarylis at 5:51 PM on August 9, 2008