Librarians are dangerous

Posted by mooreds 4/19/2025

Librarians are dangerous(bradmontague.substack.com)

698 points | 643 commentspage 3

lysace 4/19/2025|

I really loved the local library in the 80s/very early 90s (as a kid without network access). I probably spent like 20-25 hours per week there.

Now when I visit it's always meh. They have sacrificed breadth and density for "curation" and "experience spaces".

The space between the book shelves seems to have almost doubled. Why?

Bring back super high dense book shelving filled with interesting stuff.

Goronmon 4/19/2025||

My local library was much denser as a child as well.

Except that's because the library was tiny. The denseness was a necessity and the library was constantly trying to get rid of books to make room for newer books.

Thankfully they eventually replaced that tiny library with a much bigger one. And the one we live near now is also much bigger and much better. I think the kids section of the library is probably double the size of the entire library we had growing up, with more books as well.

revx 4/19/2025|||

Probably depends on if your local community - which includes you! - has valued (and funded) libraries. Ours is really well done.

trollbridge 4/19/2025|||

Yep. My local library when I was a kid I get to on my bike, and I looked for books on computing topics. I ended up with a book that was a compilation of articles from Dr. Dobb's Journal.

In the late 90s, there was a cornucopia of amazing books available - one was on programming Windows, and came complete with a CD in the back with a fully working copy of Visual Studio C++ 1.52.

I decided to poke into the library my kids go to for story time and see what computer books there were. It was truly bleak. There was really nothing that would bring back the sense of discovery I had as a kid going to the library.

streptomycin 4/19/2025||

When I was interested in programming as a kid in the late 90s, I too went to the library, but they only had books about computers from the 80s. idk whether my experience or yours is more representative. But today there are tons of free resources online, so idk if a kid would be looking for that stuff at the library these days.

trollbridge 4/20/2025||

Well, it helped that in the early 90s, computers from the 80s were still highly relevant. I skipped over anything that wasn't about IBM "compatibles" since all I had at the time were IBMs (other than the oddball TI-85).

toast0 4/19/2025|||

> The space between the book shelves seems to have almost doubled. Why?

Accessibility is probably a factor, narrow spaces are hard to navigate with a wheelchair.

lysace 4/19/2025||

I mean, they were never so narrow that a person in a wheelchair wouldn't fit. Or couldn't turn spin around.

I guess the benefit is that now two people in wheelchairs can pass each other, thus avoiding one of them needing to spend a few seconds going backwards, were two people in wheelchairs to travel in opposite directions in the same lane.

Yay. Totally worth halving the inventory for, not.

wnevets 4/19/2025|||

> Bring back super high dense book shelving filled with interesting stuff.

Sure thing but your community would have to pay insignificantly more in local taxes

lysace 4/19/2025||

To be crude: Books and shelvings are very affordable compared to employees. Every part of each library doesn't need to curated by a local librarian.

The primary goal of libraries is to educate the public - not to employ librarians, right?

whatshisface 4/19/2025||

My local library on the other hand got a lot better.

Peteragain 4/19/2025||

Okay. The point is that someone, yes, SOMEONE, needs to make the call as to what goes on the shelves. Mien kampf? The Anachist's Cook Book? Lady Chatterley's Lover? Is is librarians who make the decision AND IT IS NOT THE SAME FOR EVERY LIBRARY GOER!!!! Yep. They consider who's asking and why. They are some of the few remaining trusted professionals, and they remain so because we think they're harmless drudges. Power to 'em!

pyfon 4/20/2025|

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noisy_boy 4/20/2025||

In my university, I spent more time in the library than anywhere else reading all kinds of books ranging from encyclopedia brittannica to religion to course books to magazines and everything else in between. I do regret not working harder on my course subjects but the decision to spent hours at the library was a life changing one which resulted in me opening my eyes to a world beyond my hometown.

owl_vision 4/19/2025||

Librarians are very dedicated, this was missed in the article. They are the first defenders against our freedom to think, read and express our thoughts.

Recently, I interviewed 2 librarians for an essay about recent book banning. They are vehemently against book banning, specially classics as seen in recent media.

https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

https://pen.org/banned-books-list-2025/

https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/03/record-book-...

https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/media/2023/October/book-bans-may-h...

edit: newlines to separate links

tonymet 4/19/2025||

Treating “knowledge” in the abstract is dangerous. “Knowledge” consists of manuscripts . A book store or library is merely a curation of those manuscripts (or their copies).

Librarians actually are dangerous, in that they present “knowledge” as neutral, and “more knowledge” as an unquestionable good. Nearly all librarians and book store clerks share a skewed ideology.

Everyone expects a Christian, Muslim or Jewish book store to be filled with a tailored curation of books. Libraries and book stores are ironically treated as neutral “knowledge repositories”.

My point is that every collection is curated according to the taste and the agenda of the curator or librarian.

It is the quality of the collection that makes it good, not the volume. Librarians are dangerous because they’ve convinced the public that they are gatekeepers of knowledge, when they are actually just curators.

ZoomZoomZoom 4/19/2025||

It's interesting to note that at the core of Asimov's Foundation (spoiler: Va n frafr, ng gur pber bs obgu bs gurz.) was a bunch of librarians that were supposed to help restore the galaxy to order after a prolonged period of decline brought by disintegration of the galactic Empire.

rpmisms 4/19/2025||

I've never met a librarian like this article describes. I have met people like this in many other walks of life, but I've never met a librarian who seemed like anything but a scold with a stick up their ass.

fknorangesite 4/20/2025|

Why were they scolding you?

pyfon 4/20/2025||

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amol_s 4/20/2025||

Schools should include psychology, neuroscience, and some other books which help to bring courage and confidence to survive in real life problems.

SamLL 4/19/2025|

It seems relevant to this article, and its portrayal of librarians as dangerous, that the national Institute for Museum and Library Services was recently essentially destroyed by Presidential executive order and DOGE, probably illegally, its grants largely or entirely revoked, and its employees laid off.

See, e.g., https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/11/trum...

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/l...

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