by Craig Wilson
WESTMINSTER, Md. — Bryan Hissong is 31, happily married, and the father of a 2-year-old named Olivia. He seems quite content with his life.
But Marilyn Johnson, who is not his wife, loves him and has said so very publicly. It doesn't matter that she has never met him. Hissong is a librarian.
He doesn't look like the clichéd librarian of old. He favors plaid shirts and is sporting a beard on his babyface — but that doesn't matter to Johnson, either. She's well aware that librarians wear many disguises these days. Often they're pierced, tattooed, punk with bright blue hair. She loves them all.
Who knew librarians had become so ... cool?
Johnson is the author of the new This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All (Harper, 272 pp., $24.99), a humorous, unabashed love letter to the men and women who used to toil quietly in stacks but now circulate in cyberspace.
"They're smart and they're funny and they totally get it," says Johnson, whose respect for librarians grew tenfold when she was researching The Dead Beat, her acclaimed 2006 book on obituaries and obit writers. "They're not saints, but ethically and morally and every other good way, they're professionals. They're good people."
And possibly endangered.
"It turns out this is a good time to point out that we're shooting ourselves in the foot if we let these people go from our lives," says Johnson, 55, who lives in New York's Hudson Valley. "We need them more than ever."
The reasons are simple and multiple: "The middle class is squeezed and needs libraries more, information is multiplying at an alarming rate so we need librarians more, and the jobless are streaming to libraries in droves," she says.
Overall, the use of public libraries is up by 6% over last year, according to the Library Journal, while states and municipalities are drastically cutting back on aid to libraries, causing many to close. New York has just proposed its fifth cut to state library spending in two years. Ohio libraries were threatened with up to 50% cuts in aid last summer before thousands of patrons protested to legislators, who then cut state funding by 18%.
Hissong's boss, Lynn Wheeler, 61, director of the Carroll County (Md.) Public Library system and a 37-year veteran in the library world, has seen all this firsthand but remains upbeat about her rapidly changing profession.
"Librarians are life-long learners," Wheeler says. "We're flexible. We're up to speed."
And despite losses in the ranks — mainly from budget cuts nationwide — librarians march on into new territory. According to Johnson, thousands of librarians even frequent virtual reality sites such as Second Life where they share resources and socialize. Wheeler acknowledges that this brave new tech world can be overwhelming but says libraries are keeping up, with 24/7 website operations, self-checkouts and improved cooperation between branches. Some patrons now even text-message their questions.
"The demand for technology access and the teaching role for librarians will only continue to grow," she says.
Hissong agrees. "We have had this huge burst of information, yes, but how do you know what you want or need?" he asks of his patrons. "That's where a librarian comes in: to usher people through, to filter things out."
Johnson, who visited libraries big and small researching her book, will be the keynote speaker for the Virtual Worlds and Libraries Online Conference on March 6. The theme: "The Future is Now."
That "future" includes Kindle and other e-readers. What will their arrival do to traditional libraries?
"Nothing," Johnson says. "It's just more neat delivery systems for books. There will be some shifting shelf space, as there has been to accommodate DVDs and audiobooks, but we will always need books. And good public libraries, if they're funded, will figure out ways to get them to us."
On a recent afternoon at the Westminster library here in northern Maryland, the main reading room is packed, and all 20 computers are occupied.
Hissong is wandering the floor with a Samsung Q1 tablet computer in his hands, helping patrons find everything from a Jane Austen classic to an Austin Powers DVD.
"A library is as popular as ever. It's not just a book depository anymore," he says. "We're a resource for everyone. If they check out a book, great. If not, that's OK, too."
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