Maybe it’s the way I dress. Working at a university library and dealing primarily with students (many from fashion/design) I don’t have to worry about dressing up for work. Indeed, I often go to the opposite end of the spectrum and try to look as out there as some of the students. Basically I can and do have fun with what I wear.

Maybe it’s the circumstances in which I meet some of these people: out at a gig, a party or a bar. But at these same places I often meet people who recognise and say, “Hey, aren’t you that library guy?”, which has resulted in a few friendships.

What ever the cause may be, of that disbelief tempered with intrigue it’s always fun to explore it and find out what people really think about libraries and librarians and to help dispel some of the pre-conceived concepts. After all, they are the people I’m there to help.

And yes I know what you mean about constantly being under threat in terms of funding. We always seem to manage to do as much, if not more, with less, though.

I’ve got a few other thoughts about “relevance of libraries” that tie in with discussions about how the women-centricity of the profession may tend to cause the profession as a whole to hold back when it could push to the front, but I’d have to link to those discussions properly … so I’ll do it later. (Hmm, there’s the other reason I don’t blog as much as I ought!).

In short, however, information workers will ALWAYS be relevant. The real question is whether it’s the new-fangled “information managers” (tend to be drawn from the IT part of the workforce) or the steady librarians who are at the forefront. There appear to be too few of us who are both; who claim a library background and solid information management experience (which inevitably involves a high IT component, these days; information content and information delivery systems are now too tied up to be separated).

Think on this; libraries, wherever they are, are constantly under funding/dissolusion threats. Public, private, Government, “special” – they’re always at the pointy end of budget cuts.

Knowledge managers, information managers, though; they’re the buzzword. New positions, new funding, and BIG money (twice that of being a “librarian”. Trust me, I know).

The difference between then? Background, ONLY. And terminology.

Hello Fiona! (When are you going to update your blog, by the way? ) You are absolutely right – in future, whenever I’m asked what I do for a living I am going to say it with pride!

It might also be the fact I also don’t/didn’t fit the geek stereotype and also proudly proclaim I’m a geek. I like taking people aback by doing the unexpected; by being fiercely proud of a profession many people now regard as outdated, or by being proud of a profession people regarded as introverted, absocial, and insular (that’s the IT part, folks, not the librarian part ). (btw I invented “absocial” just then to mean “unaware of even the existence of rules of conduct for interacting with others”, as opposed to “antisocial” meaning “doesn’t like interacting with people but knows it”.)(Sorry, I like parenthical comment!).

I could say I was an “Information Manager”; it would also be correct. I don’t want to. I personally believe Librarian, as a profession, needs to be rescued from the negative stereotypes, and how are we to do that if we, ourselves, are not truly proud of it? I don’t believe we need to change the name of our profession; just that every time we utter the name, we imbue education with it.

“I’m a Librarian. I find you information faster, better, deeper, and more accurately than you ever could; even on the same IntarWeb. Phear Me”.

Anyway. Having found the biblioblogosphere (libblogs is so much shorter ), I’m a happier little geekbrarian. Now if I could but GET to Click06 …

I often get the “that figures” look from people when I tell them that I’m a librarian, so I think I must fit the stereotype…I know my shoes do. I’ve had it when I’ve visited an accountant and when I see my son’s specialists and school. Something to do with the duplicate, categorised documentation with executive summary I usually present to people at these types of meetings, I guess.