Yes, I really AM a librarian!

"You're not really a librarian . . . are you?" It's a great game when I meet people for the first time. Only once has anyone ever guessed that I am a librarian, and I suspect that he said it as a joke.

I don't fit the stereotype of what the majority of our culture identifies as "librarian." If you ask, most people will tell you that the idea they have of a librarian is an older, frumpy woman who is stern-looking with glasses on a chain. While our profession does not resemble this as much as it maybe once did, it is still easy to pick out a librarian from a crowd in an ALA or PLA conference city!

We'd like to think that the stereotype isn't true, that we've moved past it. But how can we expect society to take our stereotypical image less seriously if we can't even laugh it off? Think of the Nancy Pearl action figure. Or NJ's Super Librarian marketing campaign. Both sparked much debate over how we want to be perceived. The truth is that as a profession, I don't think we'll ever reach a consensus.

I'm not the only one considering the "image thing." Its the subject of Francine Fialkoff's editorial in Library Journal.

Nevertheless, the traditional librarian image persists. “It’s in the American psyche,” Joan Bernstein, director of Mt. Laurel Library, NJ, and president of the New Jersey Library Association (NJLA), said when we discussed “the image thing.” “I don’t think it’s ever going away.” At the New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference last fall, the NJLA booth was staffed by a twentysomething librarian wearing a short skirt and high black boots. “I don’t want to fall into the trap of having 'booth babes,’” Bernstein said, at the same time acknowledging the positive effect. The Image Thing 2/15/07

This editorial is on my radar because of Joan. She called me today to make sure that I knew she didn't mean anything offensive by her comments, which I knew. I'm the librarian to which she's referring. (I love that I can still get away with being called "twentysomething" by the way!) I'm not a "booth babe." When I think about the idea of a "booth babe," I think about the vendors that HIRE attractive people (think models) specifically to work their booths, knowing that their traffic will increase. There's a main difference here. Yes, I wear shorter skirts. Yes, I wear boots. And high heels. But that's not what makes me an ideal person to staff the NJLA booth, or even a great librarian! Initially, the fact that I am young, fashionable and personable will entice people to visit our booth (or at least not to just rush by!). However, what makes them STAY to talk to me is my love of this profession and my excitement over the changes we're seeing in our libraries.

Everyone is concerned about image, not just librarians. But I think that if we focus on our work and not spend so much time trying to thwart the stereotype, we'll stop drawing attention to the stereotype we supposedly loathe. We need to just be so amazing at what we're doing that, over time, people remember what we're doing as opposed to what we look like or what we're wearing!