Librarians—Our Fictional Selves Available to Purchase

ON various occasions librarians have had cause to bemoan the representation of themselves in print. Instances have been quoted to show how low an estimate of our worth novelists have and we usually seize the opportunity to cry aloud, “And in any case, it is not true!” I can not claim that I manage to keep abreast of the tide of modern fiction, I have neither the time, the strength nor the inclination, but I have received one or two impressions as to our present adjudged value. I think that there are three headings under which we might consider the subject. Firstly, does it matter how we are portrayed in fiction? Secondly, are any of the strictures true? Thirdly, what, if anything, can be done to amend the present state of affairs?