I’m very fond of librarians. I go to many librarian conferences, and I’ve found that librarians tend to be a group that has far more humor to them than most people assume. So this series was written in fondness. I like to write things that have a kernel of truth to them, and the idea that librarians have this much power over the world—there is a kernel of truth to that. I don’t actually believe that librarians are evil, but it makes me laugh to think of it.
I was sitting around one day thinking what is the funniest thing I can think of, and the image that came to my head was a little old lady librarian with glasses and a shawl, standing behind the checkout desk, and having a battle axe underneath ready to grab in case somebody walked off with the wrong book. That was hilarious to me so that’s part of where the series came from.