July 9, 2007

Hipper Shushers?

(thanks, Kristie!) The New York Times published an article yesterday titled "A Hipper Crowd of Shushers", about the same Desk Set librarian crowd I mentioned earlier. Excellent marketing, you guys! This article's a bit deeper than the earlier one (IMHO), and this one mentions the label "guybrarian". The male librarian in the article doesn't like being called that - I'd be interested to hear from other male librarians, what do you think about that tag?

Monsoon's not here yet but it's right around the corner - hot and muggy is the plan du jour!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Guybrarian" is insulting to both male and female librarians. It reinforces the image that only women are librarians, and it suggests that there's something weird about the existence of male librarians.

Now I sound like a humorless prig. I am a hipster! Really! B)

Ruth said...

I can vouch: Chris is a hipster.

Other male librarians? What's your input?

burkbum said...

Reviewing trackbacks on this story and found your question: About guybrarian, I don't care either way -- my friends say it tongue-in-cheek when they're giving me a ration of $hit but I don't think "normals" even know the term (well, not until now) and they certainly aren't using it to describe male librarians anywhere I've ever been. Generally, it's a distinction that hardly deserves comment.

Anonymous said...

In retrospect, I think I was being overly sensitive. In the context of the article, "guybrarian" was a silly term the librarians were using to tease one of their own. The reporter picked up on it, thought it was cute and put it in. What the odds of me hearing "normals" use it in a derogatory way? Honestly, slim to none. I really need to be less sensitive about perceiving slights!