Perhaps no one portrayed a stereotypical librarian better than actress Shirley Jones in the 1962 movie, “The Music Man.” Her character, Marian Paroo, was the town’s conservative, unmarried, bespectacled and socially awkward librarian, who only learns to loosen up when a fast-talking salesman stops into her Iowa town.
This stereotype of librarians as studious and socially awkward has persisted in American culture over the years – something that’s evident not only in film and television characters, but in the McFee Company’s (www.mcphee.com) Librarian Action Figure, released a few years ago. The action figure is modeled as a gray-haired woman in glasses, wearing frumpy clothing. Press a button on her back and she lifts her arm in a “shushing” motion.
These are exactly the stereotypes today’s librarians would like to get rid of, especially one new class of librarians – “guybrarians,” or male librarians who are daring to take their careers where previous generations of men rarely did.
46 = “younger and hipper”?
hell, The Ledger convinced me; I *am* dating that 18-year-old cutie who shelves the books and laughs at my Happy Days references. “Ayyyy!”
guybrarian
That is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Yes people are surprised to hear I’m a librarian, but I think that is from the impression of librarians in popular culture. Though I do a wicked slide the glasses off my face and across the lips in slow motion looking very wanton as I do it. Heck even I want me when I do that.
‘GAybrarians’
I keep misreading the title, I thought this was a story about ‘GAybrarians’ not ‘Guybrarians.’
Men Librarians
My brother-in-law saw “The Librarian” with Noah Wyle, and thinks that what I do all day- go to work, then fly away to remote countries, chop my way through jungles to locate missing books, beat the bad guys, save the world, get the girl, and be back in time for supper.
Sigh. I’ve never had the nerve to tell him that only the job interview scene in the movie was realistic…
R. Lee Hadden (These are my own opinions!)
Librarian Action Figure
The librarian action figure was based on Nancy Pearl, a Seattle Librarian and author. I believe it was a joke. Meeting stereotypes head-on. I mean, “librarian action figure”; how can anyone take that so seriously? I’ve head Nancy Pearl on the radio and read her books. She seems like a pretty with it, vivacious person with a good sense of humor. Too bad others in the library biz don’t have one.
GUY? brarian?
I think the “guy” whose picture accompanies this article is hardly the spokesmodel for the hip, young, wired new guybrarian. Dadbrarian, maybe. Grandadbrarian, likely.