"a sinecure office"

"I am frequently asked what in the world a librarian can find to do with his time, or am perhaps congratulated on my connection with Harvard College Library, on the ground that 'being virtually a sinecure office (!) it must leave so much leisure for private study and work of a literary sort.' Those who put such questions, or offer such congratulations, are naturally astonished when told that the library affords enough work to employ all my own time, as well as that of twenty assistants (...)".

John Fiske: "A librarian's work". In: The Atlantic Monthly 38 (1876) 228. Zitiert nach: Rory Litwin (Hrsg): Library Daylight. Tracings of modern librarianship, 1874 - 1922. Duluth: Library Juice Press 2006, S. 17