Cynthia Wilson writes “There is an article in the most recent issue of Bust magazine that is
called “Revenge of the Librarians” it discusses the image of a librarian.
Personally, I am very tired of hearing, “But, you don’t look like a
librarian” and I would like to portray that librarians do not necessarily
conform to the stereotype.
In order to do this I want to create a photo book of images of real librarians.
So, I am looking for librarians or library science students who would be
willing to get their picture taken and answer short interview questions.
Please look at http://www.iamalibrarian.com and let me know if you would be willing to
participate. At this stage I am just accessing the amount of participation
that librarians are willing to give me for this project.”
For those read the dept
The Rachael Weiz (playing Evelyn Carnahan in The Mummy, 1999)
“I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O’Connell, but I am proud of what I am…I, am a librarian!”
It’s a walk off, folks.
I consider the subject of librarian image to be of great importance, but only to librarians. We really shouldn’t pretend that anyone else in the world has ever thought about the image of librarians and how it really should change.
What we should perhaps think about more is how to get ourselves taken more seriously, and how we can better prove our value to those whom we serve, and those from whom we plead our funding. One way is to project a professional image and to let it speak for itself.
That said, I think a catwalks-and-martinis fashion show would go over famously at the next ALA conference. Tweed, cardigans, horn rims, Catwoman, hair buns, balding short administrator who smells like band-aids, Party Girl, the lot of it.
Mr. Carter
Re:It’s a walk off, folks.
“What we should perhaps think about more is how to get ourselves taken more seriously, and how we can better prove our value to those whom we serve, and those from whom we plead our funding. One way is to project a professional image and to let it speak for itself.”
This is why we pay dues to professional organizations (trade organizations)–they are to market librarians and libraries, instead they run around and try to save the rest of the world–those folks who don’t care at all about libraries.