I -- am a librarian...

"Look, I... 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..."

Librarians in modern society have a very specific image, and as a current student of Library Science, I just want to dispel some of the views that I have encountered and bring up some interesting topics about... what else... LIBRARIANS!


In contemporary media, its easy to stereotype, but I personally prefer the bad-ass version of librarians as having a super-human thirst for knowledge and learning. Nobody is a better badass example of this than the unassuming Evie from the Mummy film series. Also as an aspiring Egyptologist I look up to her in more ways than one.

I also thought it was interesting that one of the main characters of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series was also a librarian who also practiced magic, and was therefore a boundless resource on the supernatural. Might I mention that Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, was also a librarian!

There is also a long history of ancient libraries from the very inception of writing in Sumer. These included not only archives but also works of law, history, religion, commerce, and a whole range of subjects. In Egypt, the medium of writing moved from clay tablets (like in Mesopotamia) to papyrus scrolls, so much more complex system of storage was needed. Egyptian libraries were located in temples and were referred to as the Per Medjat or "House of Books."

Specific gods and goddesses were the patrons of these establishments, but none were more important that Thoth and Seshat. Seshat names "The Scribess" and she was associated with architecture, astronomy, and mathematics- and is the prototype of the female profession of librarianship. Her attributes show her holding a palm branch recording the regnal years of the king, a leopard robe associated with priesthood and the night sky, and above her head is an unconfirmed symbol of either a reed or a star. Thoth, although not specifically associated with libraries like Seshat, was also her consort and in charge of writing, magic, and academic subjects.


In the Hellenistic world, libraries became the cultural centers cities, such as the great Library of Alexandria in Egypt, which contained every great work produced in the Hellenistic world begun by Ptolemy I. There were also libraries in Pergamum, Athens, and Rome which collected records, literature, and knowledge passed down through classical antiquity.

In the Hellenistic world, the patron goddess of libraries was Athena (Minerva)goddess of knowledge, or the personification of wisdom herself Sophia. Hermes, like Thoth with whom he is associated with in the Egyptian pantheon, is the inventor of the word and oration (thus his epithet of Logios) but is not associated with libraries per se. It seems that in the ancient world (and today), male wisdom took the action of oration, writing, and physical active participation of creating knowledge. Female goddesses therefore were the passive guardians of knowledge created by the male figure.

βιβλιοθηκάριος

Ankh Wedja Seneb
(Life Prosperity Health)

Leif Lauderdale