The statue of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal. He was crowned in 669BC and created the first systematically organized library in the world. Whilst library fashions have changed greatly over the centuries, it's reassuring to know that a fondness for cats and fastidiously maintained beards persists!
And he also liked to dine with his queen in the gardens with his enemy’s head and hand hanging from a nearby tree, confirming my long held instinct that librarians are dangerous lunatics
I'm similarly amused! I wonder if the Librarian who issued the card to the baby was as stern and serious as the Assyrian King appears to be. I'm imagining books for toddlers and infants in his hand now too instead of a stone tablet.
As a young'un I always wanted to be a librarian, but that was mostly cos of the stamping. I would also have accepted the job of post mistress on the same basis ! 😁
Trust me on this, librarian was and remains the glamour option out of those two career choices! There's a lot more to it than just the stamping I can assure you.
The shushing may be something of a dying art. It's not as prevalent as you may imagine. Resorting to stern looks however never goes out of library fashion, ideally with a disappointed bespectacled glance. When properly mastered, it can be as instantaneously effective as Darth Vader's Jedi choke!
I wanted to be a librarian because our local librarian, Roy Flatt, used to come to work in a kilt and green wellies and I wanted a job where I could wear a kilt and green wellies.
I did become a librarian, but never fulfilled that part of the contract, sadly.
I don't suppose there are many jobs where you can get away with a kilt and green wellies. The practical Highlander librarian style is certainly one to aspire to however. Maybe you could inaugurate a kilt and green wellies day in the calendar so everyone has the chance to dress up in that style.
@robedmunds.bsky.social
Creative and ahead of Ashurbanipal's time. Brought to mind libraries in continuous change in the U.S., beginning to ban books. As libraries represent a journey of knowledge, so disheartening.
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Libraries do represent a journey of knowledge don't they Genevieve, from infancy all the way to our senior years. They should be more cherished than they are for all the many ways they help us learn and develop, as well as for the critical help and support they provide within communities.
