Thursday Thirteen #15

In celebration of National Library Week this week’s Thursday Thirteen is all about Librarians. I bring you a list of folks both real and fictional that are, or have been, librarians. I think that some of the names will surprise you. Have a great week, and be sure to support your local library.

Librarians are Everywhere…

1. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) – Franklin was a man of many talents and accomplishments. No only is he one of the “Founding Fathers” of the USA, he is also credited with founding the first American Library (a private subscription library called the Library Company of Philadelphia.) He served as librarian for a brief period of time.

2. Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) – Creator of the Dewey Decimal System and spelling reformer (his name was originally spelled “Melville”), Dewey was obviously a librarian for many years. He helped to found the American Library Association and the Association of State Libraries. He was even the librarian of Columbia College and then the director of the New York State Library. (His professional excellence was occasionally overshadowed by his difficulty with interpersonal relations.)

3. Giacomo Casanova (1725 – 1798 ) – Most famous for his romantic escapades, Casanova spent the last thirteen years of his life as the Count of Waldstein’s librarian in the Count’s château at Dux. Though this position was not ideal, at least it gave him time to work on his famous memoirs.

4. David Hume (1711-1776) – Scottish historian and philosopher Hume was appointed librarian for the Advocates’ Library at the age of 43.

5. Batgirl (sadly, fictional) – Barbara Gordon, head librarian of the Gotham City Library and daughter of the police commissioner, is also secretly Batgirl, fighter of crime.

6. Mao Tse-tung (or Mao Zedong) (1893-1976) – In 1918 Mao, the future revolutionary worked for the chief librarian at Peking University. (It is interesting to note that said librarian was also one of the pioneer Marxists of China.)

7. Nancy Pearl (1945- ) – Librarian, author, and action figure model, Pearl is perhaps the most famous living librarian in the United States at this point. She has now retired from the Washington Center for the Book, but that just means that she has more time to read…and recommend.

8. Beverly Cleary (1916- ) – Being a children’s librarian inspired Cleary to fulfill her childhood dream of finding books about kids “like her”…by writing them herself!

9. Pope Pius XI (1857-1939) – Born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, this future pope went from being the chief librarian at the Milan seminary to becoming vice prefect of the Vatican Library. He even developed his own classification system.

10. Laura Bush (1946- ) – Before marrying a fellow named George, Laura worked at the Houston Public Library and was the librarian at Austin’s Dawson Elementary School.

11. Golda Meir (1898-1978 ) – Before becoming Prime Minister of Israel, Meir once worked as a Librarian in both Milwaukee and Chicago.

12. J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972) – Before becoming head of the FBI, Hoover worked as a cataloger for the Library of Congress. Apparently he was very interested in information.

13. Rupert Giles (sadly, fictional) – Giles is both the school librarian for Sunnydale High (while it lasts) and the Watcher for Slayer Buffy Summers. He has also been known to er…”kick butt.”

Sources:

Casanova Was A Librarian by Kathleen Low

The Biography Resource Center (Database)