Men of the Stacks

Getcher 2012 Calendars Here! "We know what people think: Dewey, glasses, shushing, books, hairbuns, Party Girl and card catalogs.  Yes, we know what people think.  We know that the American, library profession is approximately 80% White and 72% female; and we know that tens of thousands of librarians are expected to reach age 65 in the next 5 years.  We also know that this is not us."

The 2012 "Men of the Stacks" calendar is now available for order for $20, with proceeds benefiting the It Gets Better Project, created "to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach – if they can just get through their teen years." Wonderful! Not just a calendar that knocks the socks off (heh, sometimes literally) but one with a great benefit as well.  Go forth and order yours now!

Pearls Before Swine

Hair in a bun? Check. Glasses on a chain? Check. Machine gun? Check.
Pearls Before Swine, 16 September 2011

For the Love of Laura

Warning: more sharing with the choir here! Laura Warner has written a great post at Critics at Large about the wonders of the librarian, "Far More Than Shushing and Checking Out Books: For the Love of Librarians and Public Libraries". This is the kind of thing we need to be shouting at the congregation: we are fabulous and can find you anything!

To quote: "To put this plainly, librarians are surgeons with the Internet. They are specially trained to know how to find anything you need in cyberspace, how to locate the best answer and get it fast. They’re ready and waiting. They are the emergency-response personnel to all your information needs."

Yes! Now go share the news.

What Michael Said

Over at The Travelin' Librarian, Michael Sauers has been posting about his adventures working through "23 Things for Professional Development" as part of the Nebraska Learns project. His #16, Advocacy, really caught my eye:

"So, simply put, I need to advocate more to people who aren’t librarians themselves."

This got me to thinking... Michael says how sometimes he explains "What do you do?" without using the word "librarian" because sometimes it's just easier in some situations. When I think back on how I answer that question, I always say "I'm a systems librarian" and, inevitably, pull out my short explanation (I'm a trained information professional who works a lot with computer systems.") What I've been mulling over is how many times it would have been easier and more straightforward to say something like "I work with computers" or "I work at an observatory" and just leave it at that.


I do think I do a decent job of advocating the power of librarians... but am I preaching too much to the choir? I have to think about this a lot more.