Revolting Librarians Redux

“Revolting librarians aren’t defined by what they are, they are defined by what they do. In fact, it’s not even what they do, but how they do it”—Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West, in the Preface.
This compilation of witty, insightful, and readable writings on the various aspects of alternative librarianship edited by two outspoken library professionals is a sequel to Revolting Librarians, which was published in 1972. The contributors, including Alison Bechdel, Sanford Berman, and Utne Reader librarian Chris Dodge, cover topics that range from library education and librarianship as a profession to the more political and spiritual aspects of librarianship. The contributions include critiques of library and information science programs, firsthand accounts of work experiences, and original fiction, poetry and art. Ten of the original librarians who wrote essays for Revolting Librarians back in 1972 reflect upon what they wrote thirty years ago and the turns that their lives and careers have taken since.

K.R.Roberto is the Head of Monographs Original Cataloging at the University of Georgia.
Jessamyn West is a community technology librarian and a moderator of the massive group blog MetaFilter.com. She lives in a rural area of Central Vermont where she teaches basic computer skills.

Edited by Katia Roberto and Jessamyn West
Introduction by Celeste West; ; Illustrated by Katherine West
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 229
Bibliographic Info: photos, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2003
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1608-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0504-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      v
Preface      1
Introduction      5

I. Still Revolting After All These Years: Words from the Original Revolters     17
Elizabeth Katz      18
Marilyn Gell Mason      18
Art Plotnik      19
Sanford Berman      20
Jana Varlejs      24
Judy Hadley      26
Elspeth Pope      29
Reva Basch      30
Noel Peattie      33
Paul Axel-Lute      34

II. Library School Is Revolting      35
Getting the Letters: Library School Redux      36
Accreditation: What’s All the Fuss?      38
Dykes to Watch Out For: Food for Thought      42
Why Mo Is Going to Library School      43
What I Really Learned in Library School      43
What Library Schools Still Aren’t Teaching Us      45

III. Sex, Drugs, and Will You Please Be Quiet—Our Revolting Jobs      54
Labia Lumps, Chunky Discharge, and Other Things They Never Taught Me in Library School   55
The Other Side of a Balanced Collection      57
Failures in Neo-Corporatism: A Random Walk through a University Library     59
Taking a Stand      61
Are We So Progressive? The Value of Professional Children’s Librarianship     66
I Was a Teenage Anarcho-Terrorist      68

IV. Creatively Revolting Self-Expression      72
The Growing Web of Catastrophe: The Story of a Mad Librarian      73
Young Somali Women in the Library      76
Personas Non Gratas; or, An Archivist’s Classification of Problem Patrons     77
Another Day in the Life of… Reference Librarian      78
Weather Report: Hale and Drivel (or Matt Hale Visits My Library)      79
A Librarian’s Suicide Note      80
Song of the Reference Librarian      85

V. Our Revolting Issues      87
Radicals Defending Tradition: An Appeal to the Baby Boom Generation      88
Old Maids and Fairies: The Image Problem      92
Library Ethics and the Problem with Patriotism      95
In the Stacks and in the Sack: An Undercover Look at Librarians and Erotica     100
Librarians! Into the Workers’ Corner!      104
My Life as a Librarian Exposed! Personal Websites and the Librarian Stereotypes    112
Revolting Vocabulary: Mental Health and Language in Revolting Librarians     117
Silencing Sandy: The Censoring of Libraries’ Foremost Activist      120
Libraries to the People, Redux      128
Libraries—It’s a Good Thing      136
Pioneering Progressive Library Discourse      137
“Check Out Those Buns”; or, What Do You Say to a Male Librarian?      142
Status Quo/Revolution: Language to Silence Dissent in Librarianship     144

VI. Day to Revolting Day: Our Stories      147
What Do Radical Librarians Do? or, Which Way to the Black Bloc?      148
Maimonides in the Stacks; or, Digitize This!      153
Diary of a Revolting Librarian      156
Library Service to the Insane      162
The Lost Language of Libraries      163
Damage Noted: Journal of a Public Librarian      164
High Calling/Low Salary      171
“Being a Cataloger Is Better Than Gutting Fish for a Living Because…”     173

VII. Unclassifiable      176
Astrology and Library Job Correlation      177
Why Librarian: The Musical Is Doomed Before It Starts      193
Stuck Between a Rock and Another Rock: Job Title Worries       194
Hey, Book Wranglers!      197
A Bit More Than a Year of Library Reading: A Revolting Bibliography     198

See Also: A Collection from Our Contributors      203
About the Contributors      207
Index      213

• “Thought-provoking…recommended”—Library Journal
• “Witty, insightful, and readable”—Library Juice
• “A friendly, nostalgic style…a fun read”—Booklist
• “Useful, funny, and insightful bits and observations on the current state of librarianship”—Progressive Librarian
• “Excellent book…required reading for every in-coming library student…absolutely invaluable text”—Blue Ear
• “Buy the book…read the book…giftwrap it and send it to your library director”—ExLibris News
• “Invest in a copy posthaste…these essays, personal stories, comics, poems and arguments challenge us to think and to expand our horizons”—Info Career Trends
• “Recommend[ed]”—Counterpoise