Never cross a librarian. That’s the rule. 

We all saw that perfectly illustrated when Boris Johnson delivered his speech in front of a display of books including The Twits, Fahrenheit 451 and The Subtle Knife. 

I laughed a lot at that and spread it around everyone I knew. Our little clique of local school librarians had a good laugh about it last night. 

And I heard today from my line manager that one of our co-headteachers had sent the photograph of Johnson around the whole senior leadership team, saying, “I could imagine Gill doing that sort of thing.”

The author Michael Moore said something in a 2002 interview with the online magazine Buzzflash that really sums it up: “I really didn’t realise the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group. They are subversive. You think they’re just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They’re like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn’t mess with them.”

Sex and swearing

This was clearly demonstrated in the tweets that started coming in from school librarians last night.

I’ve never done anything as pointed as that, but my displays really do attract attention. I will put controversial books out, with a sign saying “Banned books”. These included, for example, Black Beauty, which was banned in apartheid-era South Africa. And I’ll have The Catcher in the Rye there, because of the swearing. As soon as the kids see that, it’s the first book they take off the shelves.

And I’ll often say, “I don’t think you should read this book, because it has sex and swearing in it.” And then the first thing they say is: “Can I borrow it?”

Under the radar

Librarians do tend to go under the radar a lot in schools. You see so many caricatures of librarians scowling at people over the end of their glasses and shushing - which I’ll admit to doing occasionally.  But I know lots of librarians who wear short skirts and are covered in tattoos. And I’ve yet to meet a librarian who doesn’t have a wicked sense of humour.

Because librarians read a lot, we know where the subtle comments and snide remarks can be found. None of the books on that shelf behind Boris Johnson - except, perhaps, The Twits - was overt. All the references were quite subtle. 

We’re always after knowledge, however subversive that might be, and we want to spread it around. Librarianship attracts that sort of person: someone who’s constantly learning. It attracts the kind of person who needs to bite their tongue sometimes - I know that’s got me into trouble in the past. And it attracts the kind of person who always wants to put their point of view across, however subversive it might be. 

I’ve since heard that the display was allegedly a parting shot at senior management, by a librarian who left under a cloud. In the six months since, the display hasn’t been changed - how sad that no one had thought to pick up those books in all that time. And then Boris Johnson came and stood in front them.

Whoever that librarian was, we all hope she finds a job now.  As school library assistant Tracy Hopkins says on Twitter: “Actually, the real story of the books behind Boris Johnson is of librarians being pushed out, libraries closing, shrinking school budgets and students missing out.” I’m one of the lucky ones.

Gill Ward is senior librarian at Fortismere School, London. She tweets as @fortislibbie