Williamsburg is known for cool bistros and trendy hangouts, but few realize that the neighborhood and its environs are a magnet for hip, young librarians. Although “hip” is not an adjective generally associated with librarians, a stack of archivists, publishers, illustrators, librarians, and other bibliophiles called the Desk Set is out to challenge their image as staid.

The traditional idea of a librarian is “uptight in a bun,” the group’s co-founder, Maria Falgoust, said. “It would be nice if we could change that.”

To follow up on a well-attended Desk Set dance party Memorial Day weekend at Enid’s in Greenpoint, Ms. Falgoust is planning a screening of “Desk Set,” the 1957 Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy romantic comedy from which the group took its name, for the end of this month. She is also considering a Labor Day weekend dance party.

“Being smart and having fun are not opposites,” a digital imaging specialist at the Brooklyn Museum, Sarah Gentile, who has a master’s degree in library science, said at the Desk Set dance party. Ms. Gentile and others wore pins with such statements as “Withdrawn” or “She blinded me with Library Science.” The mood was more merriment than Merriam-Webster.

“Prepare to be shushed!” read the announcement for the event, at which the reference desk revelers downed cocktails with Dewey Decimal numbers instead of names. No one guessed the identity of a concoction of Champagne and raspberry vodka that had the call number of “The Joy of Sex.” Lime Rickeys were served in honor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, as was gin and pineapple juice, said to be a favorite of Vladimir Nabokov.

Ms. Falgoust and Sarah Murphy started the group, having met at Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library and Information Science. The group held its first event last April.

One librarian, Laura Bishop, said she first became aware of the high concentration of librarians in Brooklyn during the transit strike in 2005, when librarians had the option of going to work at their nearest branch. She recalled how about 10 headed to the Greenpoint Branch, and each knew of at least one additional librarian in the area. Ms. Bishop said one likely reason for the significant number of young librarians in Brooklyn is the relatively affordable rent.

A sculptor who earned a degree in library science at the Pratt Institute, Julia Weist, said a number of Brooklyn librarians and bibliophiles met through a recent year-long gallery show at Proteus Gowanus that linked art and library science. Her own artwork includes a card catalog sliced open like a grand piano and a catalog of withdrawn public library books from across America.

The Desk Set has its own MySpace page. Many of the Desk Set librarians are in their 20s and early 30s and adept at new technology. A coordinator of reference services and ‘zine librarian at Barnard College Library, Jenna Freedman, said a lot of professional communication among librarians has migrated from journals to blogs.

Recent attendees at Desk Set events have included an archivist at Unicef, a librarian at the Frick Art Reference Library, and the American Kennel Club librarian.

At Enid’s, the crowd was checking out each other rather than books.

“I wore my glasses because I wanted to maximize my look,” a children’s librarian, Andrea Vaughn, said. “I already got hit on,” she added. “It’s working.”

Asked about trends in children’s books, Ms. Vaughn said a growing area involves helping develop preliteracy. “Children need to have a listening vocabulary to prepare them for speaking and reading,” she said.

“Guybrarians” were also in evidence. A private tutor, Orion Taraban, confided that librarians were “reserved” but “secretly passionate.” An archivist at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Jesse Cohen, said it was a good sign that the librarians were difficult to distinguish from the neighborhood denizens packing the bar.

How badly does the image of librarians need updating? A private school librarian, Natasha Cane, recounted how she knew someone whose mother cried when her daughter told her that she wanted to become a librarian. Ms. Cane, who was wearing a pin that read “Can I help you find what you need?” said the Desk Set could help provide an “alternative vision” for being a librarian today. Ms. Cane, who grew up in New Jersey, recalled having had “too much fun” at her local library growing up, but now her job includes shushing kids behaving as she had.

Asked how she can tell the archivists from the librarians, Ms. Cane said, “Different gang colors.”