The Days & Nights of the Lipstick Librarian!

uh oh. food poisoning! my friend M- got food poisoning in Guatamala...and it turned out to be a nice little wormy living in her intestines. Bit of meds cleared it up right away.

and a librarian living out of poorly labeled boxes? i think that is scarier than parasites in my colon!

xo,
matthew

get well

You ARE cranky. :) Enjoy Florida!

Goodness gracious...you are indeed cranky. Barista, make her Frap a double, stat!

Librarians are colorful people!

Dear Lipstick Librarian,

I recently attended my first ALA conference and while there was witness to some outlandish outfit faux pas. One in particular was observed while at the ALA store where I saw a woman in a white jumper which was painted with a kind of colorful cow print. Now when I saw this I couldn’t help but blurt out: Oh my God, look at that outfit! I thought that this would open up a conversation about the breadth and depth of the colorfulness of librarians and their outfit choices. (My personal belief being that if someone dons such an outfit that they want to be looked at and discussed.) However, I was sadly mistaken and the group of colleagues I was with simply stared at me with wide eyes and closed mouths. Help me! Is this the normal reaction from librarians? Is there a rule amongst librarians of thou mustnt discuss others wardrobe choices???

Sincerely,

Beatrice

I hate that I missed this posting until after ALA. I would have looked for you. However, if you happened by the NLM booth, I was the guy working there.

I'm greatly pleased by your bulleted list above. In particular, I like the items re: advice and gay men without a sense of style. My own partner lacks the fashion gene. He's also, inexplicably, completely without snark.

I did not see the jumper that Beatrice saw, but I saw lots of near cousins. Luckily, I was with people who were aware that these sartorial eccentricities were, in fact, eccentric.

I'm given to understand that librarians have not cornered the market on unfortunate clothing. A technical writer friend tells me that technical writers are socially and sartorially inept also. And, in fact, I sat with my friend in an outdoor cafe in Baltimore during a technical writer conference, watching the writers go by. They looked like librarians.

Seven years ago, at my first PA School Librarians Association Conference, I came away with a lot of great information and the sincerely held belief that I had never seen a less fashion-conscious crowd. And this followed YEARS of attending National Science Teachers Association Conferences!