Let’s Hear it for Librarians!

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Libraries are such wonderful places. I still get a little rush of excitement every time I walk into one. I feel a little like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when the beast first shows her his library. So many stories. So much potential. So much imagination all in one room/building. Goosebumps!

In honor of these wonderful friends and colleagues, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite librarians with you today:

  • Evelyn “Evie” Carnahan from The Mummy movies
    Evie from The Mummy

    I love librarians with inner spunk, and Evie is just such a woman. For years she’s been living adventurously through her books, educating herself on ancient Egypt, but she isn’t one to shy away from true danger when it comes her way. And who could forget that classic line of librarian pride – “I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O’Connell, but I am proud of what I am… I am a librarian.” Love it!

  •  Marian Paroo from The Music Man
    MarionMusicManLibrarian

    A singing librarian? Perfect! I love books and I love to sing, so this musical about a con man who is reformed by the love of a dedicated librarian is a winner on multiple levels. And who wouldn’t love the classic romantic ballad – Marian the Librarian? My heart’s melting a bit just thinking about it.

  • Flynn Carsen from The Librarian (made for TV movies) 
    The Librarian Trilogy

    You might have met Noah Wylie as a young doctor on the hit show ER, but he truly stole my heart as the reluctant yet adventurous Flynn Carsen in this trilogy of movies about man who goes to work for “The Library” not realizing  that it is actually a secret organization that has been around for centuries and is in charge of procuring artifacts before they can fall into the wrong hands and have their power used for evil. Flynn is addicted to learning, having obtained 22 different degrees including 4 PhDs by the time he is 31 years old. He’s slightly bumbling, yet comes into his own as an adventurer during the course of these films. Gotta love the nerd turned action hero.

On a personal note, one of my favorite librarians is a dear friend who was the first person I ever trusted enough to show my writing to. She was my first critique partner and the one who helped me believe my dreams of writing novels weren’t completely out of reach. I’m thankful that God brought her into my life and continues to bless me with her friendship.

So who are your favorite librarians? Real or fictional.

I have to give a shout out to my own librarian heroine, Eden Spencer from To Win Her Heart.
You know I love librarians when I use books to bring the wealthy daughter of the town founder and a speech-impaired blacksmith together. Ah . . . the power of the written word. Sigh.
Go hug a librarian today!
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For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Karen is a firm believer in the power of happy endings. . . and ice cream. She is an avid cross-stitcher, and makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children. Learn more about Karen and her books at: www.karenwitemeyer.com.

33 thoughts on “Let’s Hear it for Librarians!”

  1. There are a couple of librarians at two of our local libraries who I really like. In fiction I would have to say Marian from “Music Man” and Eden Spencer from “To Win Her Heart” (and that isn’t just because the author of that book wrote this post, she really is a favorite fictional librarian 😉 ).

  2. Faith – You just won MY heart. 🙂 Librarians are special people. They ooze knowledge and are so eager to help others. Whether they help us in our research or point us in the direction of wonderful new stories, their love of books opens doors to all of us.

  3. My favorite librarian moment was running into my local librarian in Springfield, Virginia at the 2002 RWA conference in Denver. We were right next to each other in line for the literary signing and kept exchanging confused glances until it hit. I said, “You’re my librarian!” Her face lit up and so did mine. I LOVE libraries!

  4. You named two of my favorites: Evie and Flynn! I just love those movies. I don’t recall much about librarians growing up – sadly I didn’t like reading much then. My brain is making up for lost time now, apparently!

  5. I love libraries. I just LOVE THEM!!!!

    My personal favorite librarian is my Seekerville buddy Tina Radcliffe. A librarian by day and a romance novelist by night.

  6. Mary – I can’t think of a better place to haunt, can you? I watched the video. Not terribly convincing, but I’m all for keeping the story alive. Legends for literacy. LOL.

  7. Karen, my favorite librarian is Eva Lozano at the Ralls Public Library in Ralls, TX where I used to live. The building is small but Miss Eva packs it with a great collection of books. Though it’s a struggle since she has limited resources, she manages to obtain new releases of all genres as they come out. We became very good friends. The library was the first thing I checked out when I moved because it tells so much about a town and its people.

    Thanks for an interesting blog!

  8. I would have to say that my favorite librarian isn’t really a librarian by trade. She is my best friend, Jenny, and works at the main branch of my library system. She knows my literary tastes and has the knack to pick the perfect books for me. I met you, Karen, from one of those perfect picks and am truly grateful for that.

    In the fiction world, I love “The Librarian” series, as it is Indiana Jones-esque. However, my favorite will always be “Marian, Madam Librarian.” I think she was my first introduction to fictional librarians.

  9. I’ll be in the minority, but as a teen I used to joke that I had bibliophobia despite the fact that I loved to read. I hated libraries – smelly, dusty, empty, and old. That had been my experience. A high school librarian that I disliked didn’t help matters. Only as an adult have I come to appreciate libraries. Our local ones are bright, clean, fun places that I have taken my children to countless times. Now I guess I have bibliophilia!

  10. I love libraries although I don’t have a favorite librarian! I’ve spent a lot of time in them over the years, especially as a mother of young children but now all my kids are adults. I love that my son now takes his 2 year old to a library and she loves it!

  11. My favorite librarian would have to be my mother and her name really is Marian! She is retired now, but she is the one who gave me my love of books! She read to me as a child and let me help her in her library at the elementary school. And now we share books to read with each other! I will have to share To Win Her Heart with her. I know that Marian the Librarian would love to read it!!

  12. Valri – I remember taking my kids to the library when they were toddlers. Seeing their little faces light up when they looked at all the pictures just made my mother’s heart sing. Now you get to see that love passed down through the next generation. Fabulous!

  13. For years and years and years and years there was one librarian in the town I grew up in. Later in her life it came out that she’d come to Nebraska on an Orphan Train. her story was just so cool and she was a lovely lady. That’s such a mix of fascinating history and the love of reading.
    She’s in at least one book about Orphan Trains, telling her story and all those years I at least never had any idea.

  14. I’ve always thought it was be so fun to work in a library or a bookstore, just live surrounded by books.

    Of course It’d be WORK so I should probably just keep writing my books.

    Don’t some libraries have like ‘resident’ authors or ‘visiting authors’. Something like that? Where do I go to get that job?

  15. Mary – What a fascinating lady! You meet the neatest people. Guess I should actually talk to real people once in a while instead of just reading about fiction ones, huh? 🙂

    I’d love to be a resident author. Too bad the university I work at now doesn’t have a position like that.

  16. I LOVE libraries, Karen. We have a great one here in town with such a dramatic, amazing staircase. I always thought it would make a great place for a wedding.

    I guess my most “remembered” librarian would be Miss Brown in high school. She was a real meanie. She tore up my latest copy of “Tiger Beat” during study hall once. Ah, the memories.

  17. My parents both loved to read and took me to the library often. All four of my children volunteered at the local library on Sunday afternoons. My whole family is made up of avid readers!

    Movie with a librarian- GHOSTBUSTERS

  18. My favorite librarian was Mr. Johnson, my elementary librarian and art teacher. I adored that man so much! He was stern sometimes, but he certainly knew how to engage young readers. He got me hooked on reading for life, and I think he’s why I became a librarian, as well!

  19. Laurie – I love that your entire family is comprised of book lovers. What a blessing to share that passion!

    Sandra – How wonderful that your elementary school librarian inspired your own career choice years later. Does he know the role he played in shaping your life? I wonder if some young boy or girl will catch the same fever from you. 🙂

  20. I lived in libraries for most of my youth and have spent much time in them since. I had the privilege of working in a small county library with a great group of people. A friend was the director and in need of a children’s librarian. Although I didn’t have aMLS, I did have an elementary education degree and several library courses plus man, many years of experience volunteering in school and local libraries. As director, my friend took a library that averaged 20 patrons a day and had director and one part time employee to a model for the area. Over the 8 years I worked with her, the library added 5 more employees, expanded its collection, instituted a home delivery program for seniors and shut-ins that was featured in a national organization’s newsletter, had 13 off site preschool story times, a successful summer reading program, collaboration with the high school drama teacher for programs, and was named as one of the top hiker friendly spots in the Appalachian Trail Magazine. Best of all, daily patronage was over 100 and some days was over 200. We all loved our jobs and put a lot of love and effort into our jobs.

  21. Patricia – What a success story! And how wonderful that you got to be a part of it. Libraries are such a gift to the community. I do all I can to support our local program as well. My daughter even served on their Teen Advisory Group for several months. She’s as much of a bookworm as her mom.

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