bibliothecary

English

Etymology

Latin bibliothēcārius: compare French bibliothécaire.

Noun

bibliothecary (plural bibliothecaries)

1. (now rare) A librarian.
   • 1644 December 4 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 24 November 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 120:

     Hence we went to the house of Hippolito Vitellesco (afterwards Bibliothecary of y^e Vatican Library) […]

   • 1620, Joseph Hall, The Honour of the Married Clergy:

     What I said in my epistle to my reverend friend and master, Doctor James, the incomparably industrious and learned bibliothecary of Oxford, I profess still; but I hold those canons of the apostles uncanonical.

   • 2017 February 17, Charlotte O’Sullivan, “True story of the black backroom girls in the American space race”, in Evening Standard, page 34:

     Bibliothecaries in the audience are likely to shudder when Dorothy (ejected from the whites-only section of a library) steals a computer-programming manual and justifies it to her son by saying, “I pay taxes. And taxes paid for everything in that library. You can’t take something you’ve already paid for.”

   • 2019 June 9, The Editorial Board, USA Today, “I’ll take ‘The Importance of Education’ for $1,000, Alex”, in The News-Press, volume 135th, number 165, page 40A:

     More important, though, is the blow [Emma] Boettcher’s win strikes for education, academic rigor, book smarts. […] The nation’s bibliothecaries are no doubt fist-pumping her victory this week.

   • 2020, Cami Green Hofstadter, “Acknowledgments”, in Modern Consuls, Local Communities and Globalization, Palgrave Pivot, →ISBN, page vii:

     Specifically, without the assistance of those bibliothecaries who toil at Florida International University, Miami-Dade Public Library System, and the University of Miami, my task of writing a fact-filled but readable guide to the consular institution would not have been as enjoyable as it was.