Librarians: We're Not What You ThinkFrom the spinster librarian in It's a Wonderful Life to the crotchety archivist in Attack of the Clones, librarians are often portrayed (in everything from movies, musicals, children's books, literature, science fiction, comics and cartoons to pornography - yes, pornography) as something less than noble or admirable. The perception of librarians has been a popular topic recently, with several articles focusing on the fringe-type librarians (ska, tattooed, bellydancing, modified, bodybuilding, laughing, and lipstick). Although something of an anti-stereotype, these people illustrate the range of librarian personalities.
Many people may hold the image of a librarian as a shushing school marm who does little more than stamp and shelve books because that's all they've seen librarians do. Well think again - that's about as inaccurate as believing that Alan Greenspan is nothing more than a glorified bank teller. The job titles may change but the mission of the profession remains the same: organize information and help people find it. Libraries have been around a lot longer than the Internet, and even library technology can hold its own with the best out there. For example, Google's savvy results ranking was hardly the birth of citation analysis (next up: "metadata" - cough, cataloging, cough), and there are enormous library systems that also predate the Internet. And did you know that you can borrow much more than just books at a library? DVDs, for example, are usually available, and free sure beats Blockbuster's prices. Same goes for answers to questions about almost anything (also, a library is sometimes much more useful for researching information than the Internet).
Although library geeks and technology nerds may have contrary images, in today's world the boundary between the career of the librarian and the information technologist is disappearing. Librarians today not only administer Web servers and dynamic databases to help manage large digital collections and thousands of electronic resources, they teach people how to use library systems. And just as enlightened computer engineers are advocates of noncommercial software and campaign for online rights, the library profession not only is part of the Open Sourcebook burnings to the FBI's Library Awareness Program to the latest copyright battles and almost all other current issues in intellectual freedom. movement but also has a long history of staunchly defending freedom - from
Check out LISNews and some library related blogs if you're interested in reading more about real librarians. For related sites see the Librarians in Society category at the Open Directory Project. There is also a movie in production titled The Hollywood Librarian.
This essay was written by John Hubbard (write to me). The accompanying image gallery uses copyrighted material without permission for research purposes (full disclaimer). It was created on July 14, 2002, and has also been published by Slashdot. It was also discussed on WUWM's AT 10 on April 4, 2006 (use the "Manual Download" link to listen). This page was last uploaded on July 05, 2007.
A PDF version of this essay with a gallery of images about the Cultural Image of Librarians is available. (the file is 7.77 MB and you may need to upgrade your Acrobat Reader to view it). A web photo gallery is also available.
Cultural Image of Librarians
of a librarian as a shushing school marm who does little
more than stamp and shelve books. Maybe that’s all you’ve
seen librarians do. However, this perception is about as
inaccurate as believing that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan is nothing more than a glorified bank teller.
The technology may change but the mission of the
profession remains the same: organize information and
help people find it. Libraries have been around a lot longer
than the Internet, and provide answers to questions about
almost anything. A library is sometimes much more useful
for researching information than the Intenet.
Today librarians not only administer Web servers and
dynamic databases to help manage large digital collections
and thousands of electronic resources, they teach people
how to use library systems. And the library profession not
only is part of the Open Source and Open Access
movements, but also has a long history of staunchly
defending freedom – from book burnings to the FBI’s
Library Awareness Program to the latest privacy and
copyright battles and almost all other current issues in
intellectual freedom.
We’re Not What YouThink
http://www.tk421.net/essays/nwyt.html
last updated: 5th. July 2007
Nota (M.Pino) - Por razões de copyright não inclui as imagens que acompanhavam os textos dos documentos. Estas, poderão ser consultadas ( o que vivamente aconselho ) nos links acima indicados.
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