The image thing is everywhere...

Lots of interesting, informative and eyebrow-raising articles came through my mailbox in the last few days:

"The Image Thing." Francine Fialkoff, Library Journal, February 15th. "The old, stale image of librarians prevails in the face of reality: librarians mirror the rest of the country, and the work they do has huge breadth and impact." I can only hope that someday there will be a resolution to the image thing, even if it doesn't seem to be happening very quickly.

"Trying to break the librarian stereotype." Julie Winkelstein: At the Library, Contra Costa Times, February 16th. Julie discusses the recent Prairie Home Companion librarian parody and learning to just let portrayals of the negative stereotype go. (A lesson I have not yet learned!)

"Charles Simonyi, the next space tourist, wants to have a Library in Outer Space." TechShout, February 20th. Yay, Charles! Can I volunteer?

"The New Library Professional." Stanley Wilder, The Chronicle, February 20th. "If you work in an academic library and are under 35, you probably don't have a lot in common with your older counterparts. You are far more likely to work in areas beyond the confines of traditional librarianship, often in information technology. You are less likely to hold a degree in library science. You are more diverse in ethnic and racial terms. And while those of you in nonsupervisory jobs generally earn less than your comparable older colleagues, some of you in high-tech jobs earn much more." A very good read - the number-crunching is quite illuminating - it should be available free for a week or two before requiring a login.

In other news, there is now a NexGen Librarians Flickr group, and I now have a Facebook profile. Wanna be my friend?

Currently a lovely 72°, sunny, and breezy.