Mad!love of books

I was reading this article and thought it gave the worst possible impression of librarians. Two parts in particular stuck out to me:

At the end, the former librarian writes: "as libraries start to lack usefulness, the librarian becomes seen as a keeper of these sacred book objects. It gives us a certain allure." So many things wrong with that statement. First, libraries = useful. Second, the books as sacred objects argument only works when talking about rare first edition texts (which, for some odd reason seems to be all they talk about). When a normal person considers the books they own or check out from the library, high-class elite probably isn't what comes to mind. I know that while I was reading Hob's Bargain last night, I wasn't thinking "Wow! What an object to be fetishized!" Third, if she's a former librarian that doesn't seem to think much of the profession (I mean, she doesn't protest when the author claims text-messages count as reading), does she really get to say "us?"

The second thing that really irked me was when the author claims "reading has become an unassailable virtue, and you simply can't attack it. That's like saying walking is a virtue, without regard to where you're going or why you're going there." Aren't doctors kinda pushing the idea that walking for walking's sake is a Good Thing? I mean, while the destination is a factor, the process isn't without value. Life isn't always about the ends; sometimes the journey really does matter.

Beside this horrible assault on my future career, I'm good.