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| Roller reference, anyone? Working on Halloween, 2012 |
This was the birthday wish I posted on Conan the Librarian's wall. I'd never heard or used the word "derbrarian" before, and thought I was awfully clever for creating, what I believed was, a new word. "Maybe it ISN'T a new word?"
Being a curious librarian, I turned to the interwebs, and a quick search brought up a number of blogs and articles about roller derby playin' librarians:
- A blog post, and CNN clip about MegaBeth, who used to play for Rubber City Roller Girls.
- Jessamyn West went to a derby bout and discovered there are a number of derbrarians
I knew there were a goodly number of librarian's that played derby, but I didn't realize it was so big that the phrase was already a thing!
It was a couple of days later that this article from Slate showed up in my feed. Roller derby as a college sport?! Skating and derby had been showing up in my dreams for a couple of weeks too. Was this all a sign that I needed to get back on the track?
I haven't practiced with my new derby team yet, because life hasn't calmed down to a point I feel I can take on a new endeavor. Also, I accepted this new position to focus on my career. I'm not even sure I'll have the time, money, and energy to devote to derby. Plus, I don't like doing things half-assed, and I know how much of time derby can take up.
Since I'm not currently playing derby, but I've got an itch to scratch, I decided to do a little research. Why are there so many librarians who also play derby? Is it a coincidence that both roller derby and librarianship are chalk full of stereotypes, and dominated by women? In trying to smash stereotypes, are we just creating another one?
I must admit, I get a kick out of seeing the reactions when folks learn I could hip check them into a shelving range. In searching for articles on librarianship and roller derby, I came across the concept of "smackademics" from this Chronicle of Higher Education article. It's my new favorite word. It says, "I'm smart, but I'm also tough." I also like the idea of broadening my field of inquiry to include ALL involved in academia.
So now I'm left to wonder.....could I get a scholarly article published on this topic? Surely, I can't be the only person who is interested in investigating the intersection of derby and librarianship?
