Enter Your Email Address & Get Updates Via Email:
Privacy PolicyExample
Why Being A Librarian Is Like Being An Opium Addict
March 14, 2008 - 2:40pm — Blake
People always wonder why librarians enjoy their jobs. We sit around all day and wait to find answers to questions we know nothing about. It Turns Out we're just addicted. It is something we seem hard-wired to do, says Dr. Biederman. When you find new information, you get an opioid hit, and we are junkies for those. You might call us 'infovores.' " We are programmed for scarcity and can't dial back when something is abundant.
In other words, coming across what Dr. Biederman calls new and richly interpretable information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good, which in turn causes us to seek out even more of it. The reverse is true as well: We want to avoid not getting those hits because, for one, we are so averse to boredom.
Technorati Tags: 
The LISNews Feeds
LISWire - The Librarians News Wire
- LISWire: Plano Independent School District Chooses Koha and LibLime
- LISWire: INCOLSA, NEBASE and PALINET join the Plinkit Collaborative
- LISWire: LLAMA Mentoring Program Seeking Mentors and Mentees
- LISWire: What do publishers of scholarly journals need to know about RSS?
- LISWire: Hurricanes and Libraries: Emergency Management Activities
Recent blog posts
Recent comments
- effinglibrarian
- mdoneil
- Dances With Books (not verified)
- Anonymous (not verified)
- Anonymous (not verified)
- Anonymous (not verified)
- Anonymous (not verified)
- Anonymous (not verified)
- Anonymous (not verified)
Comments
Librarian exemplify a high
Librarian exemplify a high demanded position. Especially with a large institution such as a local university or public entity. From sources I have heard they make a decent salary with some figures close to the range of six.
That's a pretty fast and loose analogy
Granted, I'm likely to be in the small minority of librarians who have seen the ravages of opiate abuse up close and personal, but your comparison is way off.
I assure you, you don't have a clue about the horrors of being addicted to heroin.
Why Being A Librarian Is Like Being An Opium Addict
I must confess that I know nothing about opium addiction, but I do think that, at least for some of us, finding quality information is addictive. Certainly that is true of blogging too.
Chuck's wild years
When I was younger I smoked opium twice. No kidding. It's fun. Like Nyquil and painkillers and a glass of scotch.
It is NOT, however, anything like library work.
And they are both easy to stop doing.
Love the term Infovore :)
Love the term Infovore :)
If being a librarian is a
If being a librarian is a little like being an opium addict, how do the drug addiction treatment facilities for librarian look like? I think this kind of addiction is one of the few that don't need rehab.