Librarians Get Feisty
Librarians are going up against Ashcroft and The Patriot Act, "indignant about a provision ... that could oblige them to cooperate with federal agents by turning over the records of what some library patrons have checked out," writes Margaret Talbot in The New York Times:
Some have reported that they are purposely shredding borrowing records. Others are reminding patrons that if they return books on time, their records are purged automatically, which must strike library workers as a lovely synchronicity of civil libertarian and housekeeping goals. Still others are considering how to refuse to cooperate if they are actually approached by the government. Meanwhile, an article that ran on a listserve for ''feisty librarians'' crowed, ''The old stereotype of librarians as meek maidens whose only passion is for the Dewey Decimal System'' is now ''being shattered for good, replaced by a new image of librarians as feisty fighters for freedom.''
You go, girls!
Posted by aalkon at September 28, 2003 5:17 AM
Comments
Guess I better make sure my copy of "The Anarchist's Cookbook" gets returned on time.
Posted by: Patrick at September 29, 2003 11:07 PM
I gotta love a librarian who's got gumption. No more of the bespectacled, grandmotherly type. Make way for Conan, The Librarian. (best Terminator impression) Yuh book's ovuhdue, ahs-hole.
Well, since I'm going to be talking to myself on this thread, I may as well enjoy it. I envision a bunch of pissed-off old ladies in support hose beating John Ashcroft to death with some musty hardcovers.
Posted by: Patrick at September 30, 2003 4:25 PM
Or, to borrow from Lorrie Moore (one of my favorite fiction writers), how about a bunch of pissed-off old librarians yelling "Go home and read Middlemarch!" at passing joggers and other exercise enthusiasts.
Posted by: Lena Cuisina at September 30, 2003 6:43 PM
My favorite Lorrie Moore bit Lena has told me about is the one where she puts the words, "abandon all hope, ye who enter here" above her bed. Lena suggested that I have this message tattooed on my inner thigh.
Posted by: (Amy Alkon) at October 1, 2003 4:10 AM
Oh, my! Amy, that's hilarious. Did you suggest to Lena that he have the same thing tatooed above his asshole? Maybe I should have that done, now that I think about it. Lorrie Moore sounds great, by the way. I get so much good reading material from this site.
Posted by: Patrick at October 1, 2003 5:21 AM
Patrick, please. Leave my asshole out of it.
Posted by: Lena Cuisina at October 1, 2003 7:58 AM
Sorry, Lena. Will do.
Posted by: Patrick at October 1, 2003 9:37 AM
Oh, I do have to barge in with a little asshole humor I saw recently. It was a photo of a sign.
This is your brain - o
This is your brain
on drugs- O
This is your asshole- o
This is your asshole
after going to prison
on a drug charge O
It's much funnier when the visual isn't created in typewritten words on a blog. Use your imagination.
Posted by: (Amy Alkon) at October 1, 2003 5:40 PM
By the way, Amy performed that little thought experiment on me this morning over coffee and -- yes -- sticky buns.
Posted by: Lena Cuisina at October 2, 2003 3:19 AM
Actually, this stuff about tatoos above assholes has me deciding on one for mine, but I can't seem to settle on one. What do you guys think? should I go with "Ample Parking," or "Beware the Minotaur!"
Posted by: Patrick at October 3, 2003 3:17 AM
How about "Deliveries in Rear"? "Mind the Gap"?
Posted by: Lena Cuisina at October 3, 2003 7:25 AM
Or "Winner of the Grand Canyon Look-alike Contest!"
Posted by: Patrick at October 4, 2003 12:16 AM
Okay... I'm really bonding with you over this, Patrick ... or is that Patricia?
Posted by: Lena Cuisina at October 4, 2003 2:29 AM
Nope. It's Patrick. 100% all-male. Born that way, staying that way. Hmmm... I suppose I could talk about my last proctology exam. Five class rings fell out... and one guy was still wearing his!
Posted by: Patrick at October 4, 2003 8:33 AM