I'm currently reading American Music Librarianship by Carol June Bradley (one of the founding librarians of the UB Music Library), and I have come across a few interesting librarian quotes:
"A librarian should not be a fossilized antiquarian, no matter how steadily his gaze may be fixed on 'history' of yesteryears; he should be alive with the trends of today and make ample room on his shelves for the 'new men,' whether or not they have 'arrived.' The librarian is essentially a registrar, not a critic. It remains for posterity to pass final judgement. And posterity must find a complete dossier, conscientiously assembled, not selected in accordance with personal taste or preference." ~Carl Engel (c.1925)
Aside from the constant use of "him/his/he" denoting that all librarians are/should be male, I think this notion has not changed all that much. And then there was this one:
"A librarian ought not to content himself with giving the public what it happens to want, but ought to help create a demand for what the public needs...no self-respecting library can afford to be without certain cultural documents...After all, it is not the frequency of use that counts, but the use to which a book is put." ~Oscar G.T. Sonneck
Well-stated, sir, well-stated.
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