Librari-anna, The Professional Librarian cover
Library Babies
When working with special collections and archival materials, interesting items often pop up, like this little vintage gem that recently made its way into the Western History/Genealogy Department.
Librari-anna, The Professional Librarian, is a booklet published by Columbia University Press for the 1952 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. With its pictures of cute babies and humorous, library-themed quips, this clever piece of marketing seems a precursor to today's Internet memes.
"You mean to tell me librarians don't live at the library?" ~ via Skeptical Baby Whaa? | Meme Generator
Columbia University Press was using the baby theme to promote its new materials to librarians and libraries at the conference that year. The last page of the booklet (after all of the cute library babies), introduces their "offspring."
There's THE COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA II (whose father, First Edition, won international renown), a strapping 8lb., 3oz. baby now in its second year and doing fine.
The newest member of the Reference family has J. B. Lippincott as godfather. Columbia gave birth to this youngest child, named COLUMBIA LIPPINCOTT GAZETTEER OF THE WORLD, and weighing almost ten pounds, on April 28, after more than five years of labor.
These "birth announcements" were certainly creative marketing by Columbia, but the best part of the booklet is definitely the photos.
"Let me see...I'm sure we have something on the Afghanistan begonia."
The captions reflect humorous things that you might hear in a library, both from customers and library staff. And while some of the captions are dated, or have a decidedly '50s feel, many are still relevant and funny in modern library contexts, too.
"I'm sure I saw it in some magazine about three years ago."
"I'd like another one as hair-raising as this."
Comments
I love this Hannah! I'm going to share it with all of the librarians I know. I love when we stumble upon historic items that reflect modern trends, like the reference you made to memes.
Really fun post, thanks Hannah!
This is really fun - and the captions are still so relevant! Ha ha!
Thanks for reading & commenting, Gwen! I thought it was too good not to share.
Nice chuckle for the day. Also goes to show - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
So true!
Made my day! Thanks
I'm so glad, Laurie!
More photos makes smile.
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