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# Librarian tops poll
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/librarian-tops-poll/
- Published: 2008-01-18T10:39:29.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T09:27:55.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Books

OK, I am cheating a little. The Times has produced a [list of the greatest British writers](https://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts%5Fand%5Fentertainment/books/article3127837.ece?ref=lorcandempsey.net) since 1945, and [Philip Larkin](https://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts%5Fand%5Fentertainment/books/article3083819.ece?ref=lorcandempsey.net) heads the list. Larkin was of course Librarian at the University of Hull for many years. 

> “My job as University Librarian is a full-time one, five days a week, forty-five weeks a year. When I came to Hull, I had eleven staff; now there are over a hundred of one sort and another. We built one new library in 1960 and another in 1970, so that my first fifteen years were busy” (*Paris Review* interview, 1982). \[[Homage to Philip Larkin – The New York Review of Books](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/18715?ref=lorcandempsey.net#fn7)\]

Here are the subject headings for Larkin pulled out in Worldcat Identities:  
![larkingsh.png](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/larkingsh.png)  
Of course, the list is meant to invite discussion. I was interested in the children’s authors listed, and was surprised to see [Alan Garner](https://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts%5Fand%5Fentertainment/books/article3127257.ece?ref=lorcandempsey.net) come in at number 28 and [Rosemary Sutcliff](https://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts%5Fand%5Fentertainment/books/article3127394.ece?ref=lorcandempsey.net) at 49\. Each of these was a favorite of my young reading life and maybe this says something about the profile of the Times staff who made the assessment… I recently tried introducing our nine year old to Garner and Sutcliff. Sutcliff was perhaps too ‘antique’ in style. Garner was more engaging: he would have been even more engaging if there was a movie. Now that we have had Tolkein, Lewis and Pullman movies (all these authors are on the list), maybe Garner will be considered 😉  
I looked up timelines in Identities:  
[![larkin.png](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/larkin.png)](https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50-36026?ref=lorcandempsey.net)  
The Larkin literature will grow as his reputation continues to grow.  
[![sutcliff.png](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/sutcliff.png)](https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-62683?ref=lorcandempsey.net)  
[![garner.png](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/garner.png)](https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n81-44536?ref=lorcandempsey.net)  
New editions of Garner and Sutcliff continue to appear.  
And here are the FAST subject headings associated with Larkin. Some library ones in there!  
[![larkinsubjectags.png](https://blog.oclc.org/lorcand/archives/larkinsubjectags.png)](https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50-36026?ref=lorcandempsey.net#linkfastheadings)  
*Sad confession:* I bought Andrew Motion’s [biography](https://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/28544081?ref=lorcandempsey.net) of Larkin years ago. I fear I have never read it all the way through. I have looked through the index though and noted the discussions about the ILS and about his professional library colleagues.