What's with the Libraries?

Ok. So I have two close friends who are librarians. I have another close friend who works in a library. I probably have like six or seven, let's say, 'facebook friends', who are currently going to library science school or looking into going to library school. Realistically speaking, I probably know around ten librarians/aspiring librarians! That's more people than I know in almost any other line of work, with the exception of my own.

Is it just me? Am I some weird exception to the rule going on where I personally know a large chunk of the library industry by chance, or is there a sudden surge of popularity with this career path? If the latter, why so? I certainly have no criticisms of this line of work, it does seem to me to be more of a niche interest. Is this a growing area of the economy? Is there a demand for more librarians? Is it a lucrative field? Anyone else out there know a lot of librarians?

Banned Books Week

So, my mother recently informed me about banned books week coming up soon.   Also, with Sarah Palin allegedly wanting to get multiple books banned - the topic has been brought up moreso often than usual.

I am not sure how I feel about the concept of banned books.  I have read a handful of the books that typically appear on the 'banned books list' and I definitely think someone somewhere is being waaaaay too sensitive.  There's definitely less offensive and/or controversial material in said books than in, well, every other form of media children are exposed to. 

However, that being said, I don't know how I feel about the concept of banning books.  There's a certain level of,  say, decency required of every other form of media and there are certain regulations out there.  I'm not saying some books should 'disappear', but perhaps a little regulation in some way wouldn't hurt.  

Now, I am certainly no expert on the matter - in fact, my information on the subject is very limited.  I didn't do any research for this post - this post is my attempt to do research.  I probably have more librarian friends than any other non-librarian - most who read this blog.  I do not know much about the matter - I would like some feedback.  :)