A few years back I bought a card to send to someone that has since fallen off my radar as a kindred spirit. It was a "miss you" card of some sort that said something like: Adding to My Misery: no one here thinks I'm funny. This pretty much describes my professional experience as a librarian.

I have never really thought of myself as funny - not pratfall funny anyway. Although I do seeem to fall down on occasion it is not by choice. Most of the time I can make a joke or say something funny and get people to giggle. I can even make a roomful of unenthused students giggle - and not just at mispelled search terms. I'm not what you would call performance funny, willing to get up in front of a crowd and having them rolling in the aisles. I have a friend who does that for a living (or used to anyway) and he doesn't need the competition.

No, on the contrary, my profession is finding information, disseminating information and honestly, when was the word disseminating ever funny? Maybe I'm a funny girl stuck in an unfunny library world. (That "Barbie Girl" song is going through my head at this point and you are now stuck with it for the rest of the day too). On library job postings they should just put this as a requirement: No one expects you to be funny here so stop making jokes. I just remember going for an interview and making the mistake of making a joke. The look on eight faces was the equivalent to them all saying in unison, "Oh God, she's funny." And not in a good way. I'm cutting back on the jokes and laughing for now at work and trying to figure out what is so darn serious about being a librarian. I'm thrilled to be at my new job by the way, laughter or no, just in case you were concerned. There is no misery at my new position, just some kind of confusion. This is the best freaking gig I've had in a long time and I intend to keep it.
Just in case you might think that all librarians are different from myself, ie not funny, here are two examples to the contrary:
A Librarian's Guide to Etiquette

Pop Culture Librarian Now this girl is a true kindred spirit.

Here's my last thought on the matter. Most librarians would probably self-destruct if there were more than one awesomely cool and funny librarian working there. They have to spread the love and funny around so library directors wisely only have one comedian on the payroll at once. Otherwise I'd work at a library with my own personal top ten of awesome librarians and we would rule the world with cool, funny and panache.