ABSTRACT
Humor in the library is often directed at the librarians themselves. The stereotype of the librarian is lampooned widely, despite efforts by the profession to show the falsity of the stereotype. But there are also many “in” jokes in libraries that the general public seldom hears. Some of these professional jokes come from the mechanics of keeping a library in proper running order; some are in the nature of comments on what are regarded as the idiosyncrasies of librarians; and some arise from confrontations between an unwary public and the professionalism of the service desk.
