Random: Librarian Hell?

[nebroadwe]

A friend of mine sent me this cartoon, which almost stamps the date squarely and legibly on the card (as it were). In true Librarian Hell, all the books would be in alphabetical author -- by publisher. Or they'd be in alphabetical order, but need to be reclassified into the Dewey Decimal system. And then into the Library of Congress system. And then back into alphabetical order again. Endlessly. By hand. On the shelf-list in the basement. (And as we fans of Fullmetal Alchemist know, nothing good ever happens down in the basement ... )

Myself, I always get a good chuckle out that invaluable resource

GREAT MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF
TECHNICAL SERVICES

which (among other things) reminds us to celebrate the death of Saint Minutia, patron of catalogers, on June 21, not only because she was martyred on that date, but also because ...

[t]he birth date of St. Minutia is unknown. The only reliable chronicle has an unlucky lacuna: "Sa. Minutia in [.......an]no domini nata est", where only the last two missing letters can be supplied with any certainty. Vitae of the saint written later naively abbreviate the "...no domini" as 'n.d.', and this is the form traditionally cited for her birth. Minutia is said to have been born in the former Roman province of Nova Panonia (part of the present day Czech Republic), in the village of Sineloco (modern day Odnikud). Her time and place of birth, therefore, are usually given as "s.l., n.p., n.d."

Nor should one forget August 5,

birthdate of the Werke brothers, Gesammelte ("Gus"), Sämtliche ("Sam"), and Ausgewählte ("Wally"). In addition to being prolific authors, the brothers were devoted to their military music, and appeared in countless Bands, always in uniform.

Okay, maybe you have to be a librarian (or at least an academic) to appreciate this stuff ...

Comments

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Blast. Can you see it now?

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Yes, it works fine now. Excellent cartoon.