Librarians Are Secretly the Funnest People Alive

Librarians from Invercargill, New Zealand had a “totally impromptu, definitely not planned” photo shoot spoofing The Hollywood Reporter’s The Kardashian Decade cover, and everyone is losing their minds. But did you know that librarians have always been lowkey the most fun people on the planet? Here are seven times that librarians have debunked the stereotype that they are uptight scolds ready to shush those who dare to have fun in their sacred institution.

Caution: These musical tributes to libraries and the amazing people who run them will have you wanting to break out in song and dance at your nearest library. And then you really might get shushed.

What happens when librarians at the University of Washington go Gaga? They sing “Ca-ca-catalog.” Perez Hilton called this video “positively awkward,” a designation the librarians would probably accept with glee.

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library has a message for you: #CheckItOut #CheckItOut. These dollar bill throwing librarians adapted Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” into a public serving announcement reminding everyone that the library is a place to “play play play play play” and borrow “high-def Blu-ray ray ray ray.” Fun fact: The book and movie titles featured in the video double as Swift’s song titles.

Ever wondered what librarians do on a Saturday night after the library has closed? They dress up in literary costumes and have a dance party, of course! This remix of Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk by Pogona Creative and the Orange Public Library in association with Chapman University is rife with slick book references (“Got cancer and a cool boyfriend, any guesses?”) and killer dance moves by a very snazzy Neil Patrick Harris lookalike.

Faced with the prospect of making yet another snooze-worthy powerpoint for their end of the year report, the Shoalhaven librarians decided instead to highlight their accomplishments by rocking out in boa feathers and hamming it up on air guitars to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” singing: “Is this nonfiction? Is this just fantasy? Working the library, escaping from reality.”

This Ohio librarian is not having any my-dog-ate-the-book excuses. Drowning in stacks of overdue notices, Mary Evelyn Smith set out to warn the students of Liberty Elementary School to return their books by getting her grove on, transforming “All About That Bass” to “All About Them Books” with the help of an ensemble of cute book-swinging kids. Not a bad way to publicly shame those book-stealing kiddos.

A campaign promoting studying in the library of a Mormon university is the last thing you would expect to go viral. Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library’s shot-by-shot riff of the popular Old Spice ads has than 3.5 millions views thanks to snarky lines like “Did you know that 8 out of 5 dentists say that studying in the library is six bajillion times more effective than studying in your shower?”

Move over, Carly Rae Jepsen! The New York State Reading Association’s ode to libraries will have you singing “got a library card, it kind of caught me off guard and now I’m on my way. Then this one book seemed to shout come on and come check me out!” We guarantee an ear-worm for days.

Bonus Video: So this one’s not technically a parody by a librarian, but we couldn’t help but include this hilariously subversive SNL skit. Margot Robbie plays a sexy librarian acting out the raunchy fantasy of some college bros, or so you think… She lets her hair down, takes off her glasses and just as it looks like she’s about to make the wet dreams of every straight male come true, she rips the hair off her head (ouch), reveals her then-and-now Joel Haley Osment tattoos (ewww) and then gleefully murders everyone in sight with her demonic powers (so badass). Watch out fanboys, Margot Robbie is coming to get you!