Owen Massey > Libraries
Owen Massey > Libraries
Traditionally, students clever enough to study maths to a degree, but no further, drag a lazy finger down an alphabetised list of jobs and settle for 'accountant' or 'actuary'. I was convinced not to skip 'academic librarian' by the unexpected inclusion of the erstwhile Library Association at Oxford's Alternative Careers Fair.
This move wasn't a complete non sequitur, as I argue in a little piece on maths for librarians. I've always had a fetish for order. Many people resist classification, but I embrace it. University had demonstrated that not only did I love to be a know-all, but I had a talent for ferreting out information to answer people's speculations. If you want a less jaundiced introduction to library work, see becomealibrarian.com, or even my own marginally more serious page. But remember: knowledge is power, and power corrupts.
Shaw wrote (echoing Adam Smith) that all professions are conspiracies against the laity. Librarianship calls itself a profession, although no one else does, and the cabal excludes the plebs by requiring a vocational Master's degree for librarians. Never mind the expense of tertiary education and the implicit scorn for first degrees and apprenticeships. For my part, I merely note the rumour that a Master's in librarianship is the only qualification that will reduce your expected salary. Eli Naeher's plea to Kill the MLS can be contrasted with a list of reasons why you need a Masters degree in librarianship compiled by Katia Roberto.
Despite this professionalism, librarianship is ashamed of its true nature, to the extent of denying its own name: this job title generator comes across as tired mockery of political correctness (my own suggestion is 'information matchmaker'). The librarian stereotype is nothing more than cartoonists' shorthand, like depicting Frenchmen as cyclists in berets, striped jerseys and necklaces of onions. A superb article - The perception of image and status in the library profession, from New breed librarian, August 2001 - recognises that the true responsibility for perpetuating any poor image lies with librarians ourselves.
There is a positive stereotype secretly held by librarians, one that casts us as fearlessly impartial, lightly well-read, knowingly computerate and less socially inept than socially committed. I'd like to think I live up to it, yet without contradiction I'm quiet, meek and (the horror!) I like books. Admittedly I'm not a spectacled spinster, though 'librarian', like 'nurse' and 'stripper', still needs prefacing with 'male'. And I do love cats.
'When people make fun of librarians,' a colleague confided, 'I remind them that I get to surf the Internet all day and call it work.' Not surprisingly, a peculiar online library culture was quick to grow up (examined in depth in Wear lipstick, have a tattoo, belly-dance, then get naked: the making of a virtual librarian by Antony Brewerton) and nearly every adjectival librarian has their own library weblog. For balance, read The Anti-Stereotype Stereotype and Rory Litwin's On the 'Wild Librarian' websites.
My own contributions are Revolting librarians, a historical document; a record of my library postcards as the seeds of a collection of librariana; and a collection of libraries in art. Here are some diversions for the librarian with attitude.