How are librarians perceived in the USA?
- please send your responses to Susana FL [email protected]
Three library students from Valencia, Spain (Andres, Gloria and Susana) posted the following query on the Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) discussion list:
Dear colleagues:
We are three students of Information Science at the Polytechnical University of Valencia (Spain). We are conducting a small investigation about the social image of the information professionals in our country, since we have the impression that our profession is scarcely valued here.
Our study attempts to prove that, in our country, the collective imaginary about the librarian follows anchored in a traditional image that does not correspond with our current professional profile.
So that you can understand what situation we are trying to explain, we will describe briefly some of the clichés existing in the Spanish society about our work. Most of Spanish people imagine the librarian as a person, normally of feminine sex, with humanistic interests, little personal initiative, and communication difficulties. Regarding our work, it exists the idea that it is very idle, boring and not stressing.
Yours faithfully.
Andrés G.C., Gloria M.F., Susana F.Ll.
Licenciatura de Documentación
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia,
Valencia (España)
please send your responses to Susana FL [email protected]
Muchas Gracias!
more questions in continuation…
How are librarians perceived in the USA?
- please send your responses to Susana FL [email protected]
Three library students from Valencia, Spain (Andres, Gloria and Susana) posted the following query on the Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) discussion list:
Dear colleagues:
We are three students of Information Science at the Polytechnical University of Valencia (Spain). We are conducting a small investigation about the social image of the information professionals in our country, since we have the impression that our profession is scarcely valued here.
Our study attempts to prove that, in our country, the collective imaginary about the librarian follows anchored in a traditional image that does not correspond with our current professional profile.
So that you can understand what situation we are trying to explain, we will describe briefly some of the clichés existing in the Spanish society about our work. Most of Spanish people imagine the librarian as a person, normally of feminine sex, with humanistic interests, little personal initiative, and communication difficulties. Regarding our work, it exists the idea that it is very idle, boring and not stressing.
Yours faithfully.
Andrés G.C., Gloria M.F., Susana F.Ll.
Licenciatura de Documentación
Universidad Politécnica de Valencia,
Valencia (España)
please send your responses to Susana FL [email protected]
Muchas Gracias!
more questions in continuation…Our investigation tries to demonstrate that this general ignorance about our profession is very detrimental to us, being the main cause that our labor profile is not so demanded as it would be expected from public administration, companies, or I+D institutions. The fact, in the Spanish business world, the information deparments and the internal communication deparments little are developed. Therefore, it is essential that the companies know our academic formation so that they can understand that the documentalists can be very useful. Consequently, our aims are finding out what clichés about librarians are certain, as well as, which are the causes that the society has not taken note of the changes happened in our profession. At the same time, we will try to determine if this is a local phenomenon or, on the contrary, it can be extrapolated to other countries. Finally, we will look up the possible consequences of this situation, and what actions could be launched to improve it. With this message we try to gather opinions of information professionals in other countries about the subject explained, extrapolating it of their respective countries. For this reason, we should be glad to receive yours answers to the following questions, as well as any other appreciation that you have about it, or any reference to previous works on this subject: – What are your thoughts on the way that the information professional is perceived in your country?. Can it be considered a positive perception? – Does it exist some of the clichés about librarians, exposed previously, in your country? – Do you think that your profession is not sufficiently valued, from administration, companies, cultural organizations, or I+D institutions? Yours faithfully. Andrés G.C., Gloria M.F., Susana F.Ll. Licenciatura de Documentación Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia (España)
please send your responses to Susana FL [email protected]
Muchas Gracias!
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