5/6/13 Reflection on Stereotypes of Librarians

Post date: May 7, 2013 1:34:48 AM

Arant, Wendi, and Candace R. Benefiel. "Know-It-All Librarians." The image and role of the librarian. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Information Press, 2002. 111-129. Print.

"Stereotypes of Librarians."Cyberresearcher. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2012. <home.earthlink.net/~cyberresearcher/stereotypes.htm>.

Librarians are stereotyped because for years they have not only been victims of these delusions, but they have also been unconsciously enforcing them. The most common of these stereotypes is that of the know-it-all. The know-it-all image can be because if a librarian does not know a subject himself or herself, they will mostly likely know how to find information on the topic. One of the things that librarians can do to dispute this image is to admit when they don’t know something, to tell why they don’t, and then to go about showing the process of how to look the information up. This way they are acknowledging what their limitations are to the public, but still answering the patron’s questions. They can also promote more positive images of librarians, such as Batgirl, Rupert Giles from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and Mary in Party Girl. This stereotyping has been done in all sorts of movies, old and new. Katherine Hepburn wore her hair in a bun to play a librarian in Desk Set, but she managed to do it in an attractive way, whereas the stereotype portrays it as for function rather than style.

I think that after watching “March of the Librarians”, there are a lot of librarians who fulfill the stereotype in looks simply out of comfort. They dress for form and function rather than for style. This image is slowly starting to change as new librarians are coming into the field wearing square, bold rimmed glasses or skinny jeans, which is a new version of a stereotype, the hipster. The main issue is that librarians become more accessible to the public though, that they are open individuals who are neither know-it-alls or know-nothings but rather human beings who just wish to help the public locate the best information for their topics.

I would like to think that I fall somewhere in the middle, both in dress and in manner. I know there are moments where I like to think that I know everything, but more and more I am asking questions of those who know more than me so that I can give the asker the best possible answer in the quickest manner. While I do not dress in what I see as a hipster apparel, I do occasionally like to put weird colors in my hair and I tend to wear more modern fashions such as skinny pants with tall boots or a plain t-shirt with a cotton blazer and khaki pants with flats. The main point is to be comfortable, but to also be accessible, informative, and a little bit stylish as well.