Popular Misconceptions

I bet you thought people who work in libraries can't be funny. I bet you just assumed that people who work in libraries spend their days shushing people and sitting on their arses. Speaking as someone who used to work in libraries, I'd have to admit this is on the whole correct. Some vibrant, ambitious library-workers are working to demolish this stereotype however, by actively promoting an image of librarians as fun-loving and witty. Take this for example, received in an email from one of these enthusiastic young go-getters*:


This guy walks into the library and goes up to the issue desk.

"Can I have a book on euthanasia?" he asks.

"No," replies the librarian. "I'm afraid not. But We do have a book
on young people in India."


See? This is a JOKE based on a librarian's experience. The humour, I feel, lies here in the librarian's clever wordplay on the word 'euthanasia'. Many people do not realise what a stress-filled occupation library work is. Many librarians fuck with peoples heads JUST FOR THE HELL OF IT.

Try this one:


This guy walks into the library and goes up to the issue desk.

"Can I have a book on suicide?" he asks.

The librarian on duty looks him up and down and replies: "Fuck off,
you won't bring it back!"


Once again, pretty bloody hilarious. Again, a JOKE thought up by a LIBRARIAN. Here, the darker side of library work is being examined. Librarians have a dark side you know.

But mainly, a funny side! Like Germans!



*Grazie, Cormac.