The seven ages of the librarian

In today’s 21st century world landscape, riddled with technology, as well as war, attrition, peace, censorship, fragmentation and freedom, there remains a timeless character: The Librarian. This graphic poem explores the protean ‘Librarian’ identity through history, from beginnings to future visions, and is visually inspired by comics and graphic novels. The poem driving the graphic narrative re-works Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” monologue – here my sonnet explores how the concept of ‘the librarian’ has changed through time – a poetic interpretation of my PhD research into the philosophy of the library. Starting with the ‘Scholar’ Age of the Librarian, which Callimachus (Library of Alexandria) represents, the poster zips through proceeding ‘Ages’ to arrive at the contested arena of contemporary ‘Librarian’ identity, and culminates in exploring a new vision: what might a 21st century librarian look like and what battles will she have to fight for her library and communities?