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H
ANDS up all those who would describe themselves as Sensation Seekers. The trait describes
“people who chase novel, complex and intense sensations, who love experience for its own sake and how may take risks to pursue those experiences..
Well, if your hand is in the air, you may be in the profession. Katrina Hall spotted a report into a playfulness study in Frontiers in Psychology journal. The study was seeking to look at how playfulness is linked to “sensation seeking”, and the authors did this by “testing the relationships between dimensions of playfulness and SS [Sensation Seeking] in subgroups of professions typically considered low (librarians) and high in SS (police officers).”
Our hands stayed firmly by our sides – we would much rather relax by the pool at Mediawatching Towers, sipping gin and tonic with a good book than seek out new and intense sensations. But sensation seeking is not the only think low about librarianship, at least according to our next report from the Financial Times. Tom Roper has been in touch to alert us to Simon Kuper’s article on how to cope with the climate apocalypse (
https://on.ft.com/3xFeIRw). Apparently it’s not a pool, gin and a good book.
Kuper’s argument, cites Jim Bendell’s Deep Adaptation paper (
www.lifeworth. com/deepadaptation.pdf), and points to a lack of motivation as the defining characteristic of tackling climate change. He points out that most decision-makers will be dead, or beyond caring by 2050 – the date set for dramatic reductions in CO2 emissions to be in place. And he also points out that anyone who drives a car, takes a bus, heats their home or basically does anything is adding CO2 to the atmosphere. However, he says “opting
July-August 2021
Singer Skin, who appreciates a library card when she sees one. Photo © alterna2
www.alterna2.com
out” of society may be what saves us, pointing to post-Communist Berlin where he lived in 1990. Small off-grid, low-impact communities developed, and upper adds: “Many of my new neighbours were young East Germans who had rejected what they considered the evil communist system. They had no official employment, or worked in low- status jobs as librarians or nurses…” Despite librarians’ lowly status and aversion to new experiences, medical librarian Luca managed to make a good impression on his Guardian Blind Date with Charlie (
https://bit.ly/3z6Re8z). The pair gave each other a solid nine out of 10, and Charlie described Luca as “Bright, funny, open-minded” so perhaps a chance that he might be up for some sensation seeking. Thanks for David Abdy for sending that to us, with the added comment: “Thankfully there are no tiresome librarian references in the report (in fact, his profession is only mentioned once), but the date seemed to go well.”
And while Luca’s date seemingly went swimmingly, the same cannot be said for singer Skin while holidaying with her girlfriend in Tobago.
Amanda Davidson picked out the story from The Observer Magazine, in an article highlighting celebrities’ worst holidays.
Skin recalls: “We sat down for dinner and ordered our food. That’s when four policemen wielding machine guns burst into the dining room, weapons pointing directly at us. They kicked over our table and aimed right at us, yelling: ‘Show us your weapons! Where is the gun?’ They dragged us outside, throwing us to the ground, still screaming. We kept trying to explain we had nothing, but they refused to listen. I can still see one of them now, sweating and shaking with his hand on the trigger. A van door was flung open, and they demanded we get in. “I desperately asked to see some ID to prove who they were. One of them grabbed their library card from the dashboard, which somehow reassured me.”
Amanda adds: “ It’s good to know that being in possession of a library card still instils legitimacy on an individual and shows that you are really a nice person after all, even if you are carrying a machine gun at the time!” IP
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