It's not dead yet...

For everyone who keeps saying to me "But I thought that stupid stereotype was dead already!" - no, it's not...

When: May 21 and 23, 2010
Who: Marie at Library Garden and Kathy at The M Word0
What: "Librarian Stereotypes, Alive & Well, Alas." New Jersey's having a hard enough time of it... fooey to Brad Parks! (This post, and others like it, will show him how "unexcitable" Jersey librarians are, heh.) Followed up with "The Stereotypes Do Live On" - with pictures and excellent suggestions from Kathy on response tactics.

So, then, why do people keep working in libraries? The Librarian in Black wondered that, and asked, and got answers... and I love 'em.  Of the top five results, I agree with four of them! (My top one would be "Enjoy the work itself", to be honest.) What are your reasons?

Do you care?

From the LSW room on Friendfeed: "Do you care about stereotypes about librarians and images of librarians in popular media? Or not? Discuss." There's some excellent comments in here, from both sides of the question - and most of them continue to reinforce the thought that the dratted stereotype is far from dead.

But not professional librarian sex...

In case you haven't already seen it: Yes, amazingly enough, librarians (being people just like, well, people) have... sexual thoughts. Read sexy publications. And - gasp! - even have sex! Of course, just asking about this could get you fired back in 1992... just ask Will Manley.

And now for something completely different!

Are we professionals, or not? Ryan Deschamps poses the question, and (amongst many others) 3 Geeks and a Law Blog chimes in. I'm torn - on the one hand I feel I've worked very hard to get where I am, to be able to call myself a librarian... on the other hand there are days when I feel a trained monkey could do my job. (But not with the same élan!) Make sure to read through the comments as well... and then read David Rothman's rebuttal, too.

On reading through Ryan's ten points, I have to admit - they're very good points. #8 (“Accredited Library Schools Do Not Adequately Prepare Students for Library Work") got me - my very first presentation after library school was titled "What I Didn't Learn in Library School." And heaven knows #9 ("Competing Professions Are Offering Different Paradigms to Achieve the Same Goals") impacts me daily... am I a geek in librarian clothes, or a librarian in geek clothes? (Today I'm wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Which category is that?)

Perhaps I'll just stick, for today at least, with "yes."