[WEB4LIB] New Member

[Daniel Messer]

veronica wrote:

> I wonder to what extent, if at all, IT has re-shaped the librarian
> stereotype?

Greetings, Veronica and welcome to the list!

    Just based on my experience, the library stereotype is still alive and well,
thriving across the American landscape. And I have to say, it's not completely
unjustified. At the last WLA (Washington Libraries Association) conference I
attended, I was able to see the whole spectrum of the librarian species. Sure,
there were several attractive younger guys and gals there who looked as much
like traditional librarians as Sylvester Stallone looks like a brain surgeon.
However, the majority of the folks there... Well let's just say that, if you
were standing on the street talking to a complete stranger and pointed out one
of these people and said "She/He is a librarian," they'd have no trouble
believeing you.
    In my opinion, the IT department of the library has made its biggest
contribution by opening up jobs to a usually younger, more diverse type of
person that usually only frequented the library as a patron. I think you'll find
that most IT people are as heavily into books as your "standard" librarian. The
interesting thing is that, IT people tend to have mandy of the same kinds of
personality stereotypes attached to them as librarians do. The big stereotype
for librarians (at least where I come from) is that they are quiet, bookish
people with glasses who like to sit off in quiet corners amusing themselves with
intellectual persuits. Librarians are supposed to be fairly meek and highly
intelligent.
    Now what's the standard stereotype for your average computer geek/IT person?
Well, they're usually considered as being quiet individuals who are fascinated
with computers. They are imagined sitting in basements and far corners with
their faces illuminated only by the light of a computer monitor as they engage
in some intellectual battle either with the computer, or other computer geeks.
They are usually pictured as being fairly meek and highly intelligent. In other
words, IT folks are a lot like librarians, except one is supposedly fascinated
with books and the other with computers.
    As we know, it's all bull. Only being able to speak for my library, I can
tell you that we have librarians here that look nothing like your stereotypical
librarian and act in a manner that the stereotypical librarians would find
shocking. One librarian here thinks that the greatest thing to hit TV is the
Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Japanese no-holds barred fighting
tournament known as Pride. Our IT head is an avid reader and loves sci-fi, just
like most people would picture a geek. He also knows quite a bit about how to
swing a sword and what to do with one when it's put in his hands. I consider
myself a computer geek, and most people aren't surprised when they find out I
work for a library. What they are surprised to learn is that I'm a wrestler,
weight lifter, and work with a local television production team on a comedy show
where we do and say things that stereotypical librarians would find disgraceful.

    The problem is that, even though you and I and a whole lot of other
librarians know that the stereotypical librarian is far removed from reality, no
one else does.

Sorry for the long one, I now return you to your regularaly scheduled tangents,
already in progress! :)
Dan


--
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer, Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                     -Hunter S. Thompson