The rate of quality librarianship

I don't know what comes over me.

I have millions of readers all over the world. A not insignificant number of them are librarians. And yet I concluded a post just a few days ago like this:

"Fucking librarians."

That's it. That's how I ended it.

I understand. I was trying to be funny, ironic even. But at what cost? What about the delicate feelings of librarians? Dear, dear librarians, who only want to put a good book or two into the hands of a struggling mankind.

Why would I joke about that? Some of my best friends are librarians! Do I wish to hurt my dear friends? I assure you, I do not!

I recently saw a charming show with two excellent comedians, John Oliver and Jerry Seinfeld. In this show they, wittily, talked about the sociopathy of comedy. They talked about being the kind of people who will do or say anything if there is a laugh at the end of it.

I can only blame that. I can only blame that dark streak in my soul.

Because for more than twenty years now I have worked closely with librarians. And they are smart, industrious, dedicated, funny, passionate, well-trained, innovative, driven, noble, and amazing contributors to literature, books, libraries, the community, and human kind itself.

Well, at least about six percent of them are.

Maybe four.

Four to six percent of librarians definitely are.

And in this struggling world full of lost souls, that's not that bad. Not that bad at all.