When a librarian...

When a librarian is sharing stories of recent book talks and colossal mistaken identities

When a librarian and a patron scour the shelves knowing the color of the book, the weight and heft of the book, the cover art of the book, but not the title of the book.

When a librarian takes flack for completing a research appointment form with much more detailed information than others, then uses it to demonstrate program support during re accreditation procedures years in the future

When a librarian sees that favorite faculty member #1, who not only expects librarians to fill out a card and then walk away while he promises to make only 30 copies on a library machine when he has access to his departmental copier, has also managed to worm himself into a library carrel, with no locking door, exposed to the public, for him to fill with books which can neither be re-shelved or touched by other patrons, because he doesn’t want to lug things back to his office three buildings away.

When a librarian is informed that the change coming for ten years just made it to the library job responsibilities flowchart.

When a librarian is just plain overwhelmed by having so many balls moving in the air at once

When a librarian interviews for a job, and doesn’t write down the people in the room in her notebook, and then can’t craft an eloquent-enough thank you for the interview note that also implies she knows the committee chair’s name, and no one else.

When a librarian looks around, realizes everyone is either at lunch or has forgotten themselves in the standard meeting that ends in one half hour, and sees that the 12:30 classes are letting out of the academic building across the way.

When a librarian reads “we also delete the heck out of them” with her own two eyeballs

When a librarian is designating the Year of the Pig as the Year of Cleaning Up Messes In the Systems.

When a librarian overhears a student complain that the library requires two days prior and doesn’t schedule nights for research appointments, knowing that they know who the visitor in the room is

When a librarian gives the run-down of every. single. printer. problem in the building and it adds five minutes to her “official desk duty time.”

When a librarian hasn’t seen an out-of-state colleague in twelve years, wonders how he’s doing, has no idea what his last name was, and five minutes later is trolling through his instagram and twitter feeds.

When a librarian notices a particular bent to the recent spate of purchases and holds, and it’s not too pleasant

When a librarian shows his colleague a new blog that shares [shudders dramatically] positive library experiences

When a librarian sighs heavily, clicks off the auto-start on the car, and doubles back to the patron who’s holding a phone, a piece of paper, and her entire soul in tatters as she stares at the shelf in front of her.

When a librarian isn’t particularly stuck-up about citing sources about why taking a nap every now and then isn’t bad, while waking up in the middle of the night isn’t necessarily a sign of insomnia, no matter what the drug companies tell you on either front