Briscoe, Peter. The Best Read Man in France: a Cautionary Tale ([S.l.]: Borgo Press, c2007) 119 p.

This story has a message: that librarians are the guardians of precious and sometimes irreplaceable books. A rare book dealer who buys and sells with libraries all over the world bemoans the trend toward digitization which often involves the destruction of bindings that will never be mended. Nevertheless he becomes romantically involved with Elizabeth Wyatt, the Digital Resources Librarian at a large American University. When the dealer begins a public protest he finds he is not alone.

The next morning he was at the door of the library. To his astonishment he was soon joined by another picketer, a tall, thin, scraggly-bearded graduate student in English. His sign read:

LIBRARIANS

THE ENEMIES OF BOOKS

Michael was overjoyed by the support, but thought the sign might be going a little too far. The student replied, “No, no, it's an old controversy. In the eighteenth century Edward Young said:

Unlearned men of books assume the care,

As eunuchs are the guardians of the fair.

“Well, I would hardly call librarians ignorant. Many of them hold advanced degrees.”

“True, but something has gone awry in Libraryland. I have an inside source, who shall remain nameless, but who fills me in. The modern librarian is basically a shill for the Info Industry. It's a shame that taxpayers and tuition payers still have to bear the cost of their salaries, which more properly should be paid by their corporate masters. Their so-called business and contract negotiations with predatory electronic publishers for obscenely expensive databases, electronic journals, and e-books are little more than mating rituals. But in the end there's no question who remains the dominant partner flying ever higher, and who's left to sit on the eggs.” (p. 94-95).

This modern action is compared with the experience of the seventeenth century French librarian Gabriel Naudé. He assembled the finest library of the time for his master Cardinal Mazarin only to see it dismantled and sold by the Cardinal's enemies.

Brink, André. The Rights of Desire (New York: Harcourt, 2000) 311 p.

Ruben Olivier, a retired librarian in post-Apartheid Cape Town, lives alone with his books.

The deeply satisfying sublimation of traveling through the pages of books. Which never let you down, never say no, never offer a cold shoulder. And custom cannot stale their infinite variety, Oh, not that books are ‘easy’! They may be very demanding., they may play hard to get, they may not open themselves to exploration unless you’re prepared to offer everything in return. But if you do, how abundant the reward. Foreplay, fullplay, afterplay, endgame, all, the ultimate consummation devoutly to be wish’d. And then you dare to ask me what I do for sex? (p. 23).

Ruben has found a refuge in books ever since he was locked into a library overnight as a child. And more so since his wife died.

Ruben was forced to retire early from his job at The University of Cape Town in favor of a black replacement.

Brinig, Myron. The Sun Sets in the West (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, c1935) 360 p.

In the western mining town of Copper City many interesting stories are to be found. One concerns Gertrude Fields, the town librarian.

She was a slender, virginal spinster of forty with flower-like blue eyes and the soft pale complexion of a madonna. She was frail and alone and mysterious. (p. 16).

Miss Fields is attracted to a young man who loves books as much as herself. He in turn is attracted to her but the town is scandalized when he is seen going frequently to her apartment.

Brean, Herbert. A Matter of Fact (New York: William Morrow, 1956) 245 p.

Rosemary Derby loses her job as librarian at the Fortunatus Club in New York City when her brother is convicted of murder. She is a “dark-blond, small-breasted dame with … tight lips and critical air” (p. 176).

Braun, Lilian Jackson. The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (New York: Jove Books, 1988) 249 p.

Polly Duncan is introduced in this mystery and appears in subsequent “Cat who …” books.

“She’s a lovely person, Mr. Q, and just the right age for you, if you don’t mind me saying so. She has a lot of personality for a librarian.”

“It’s a new trend,” he said. “Libraries now have fewer books but a lot of audiovisuals … and champagne parties … and personality all over the place.” (p. 32).

Polly is the head librarian in the small northern town of Pickaxe, and she knows her Shakespeare.

Brandon, Beatrice. The Court of Silver Shadows (New York: Doubleday, 1980) 305 p.

Sablecroft Hall, near Petersburg, Florida is the home of an eccentric family in possession of an enormous library on the subject of cinema. In need of a librarian to organize and catalog the collection, they hire Laurel Warrick, a recent MLS graduate from Connecticut. Laurel comes with her cat to live in the house with this strange family and catalog their books. "I, being a librarian, just love to grind," I said. "To drudge, to swot, to plunge myself into monotony, what glee!" (p. 100).

Braine, John. The Jealous God (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1964) 286 p.

Vincent Dungarvan enjoys being in the Charbury (northern England) Public Library. “The Reference Department, a large circular room with radiating bookshelves, had always been one of the places in which he could find what was, when he came to think of it, literally a kind of sanctuary. It was a place where no one could make any demands on him, it was a place where, more often than not, he would simply sit still, a pen in his hand, not thinking, not even sometimes aware of himself as a person. There was nothing to distract the eye and nothing to offend it: only the books and the huge mahogany tables and the catalogue cabinets and the service counter. You emptied your mind of the irrelevant, you sat there quietly and then sometimes, there was a glimpse of the relevant.” (p. 66). He falls in love with a warm, intelligent, attractive librarian named Laura Heycliff.