Look closely at the photo on the right. That's not "just" a photo of an old man. That's actually an image made up of three photos of librarians from the Texas Library Association.
As "The Men of TLA: A Calendar" makes clear, they are some of the guys who will "accompany you through 2007 and half of 2008, month by month, in an exploration of the barely-seen side of TLA men." (Via LISNews)
In "Sex in the Library," I linked to stories about women librarians who posed for fundraising calendars. Well, to paraphrase a song, I guess it's my gender's turn =)
But librarians don't really have to take off their clothes to be "sexy." I find it interesting that the following items appeared in the past two weeks:
"Meet the Blograrian" by Ronald Lim (Manila Bulletin, 1 October 2006) - The featured blograrian is, of course, Zarah Gagatiga—Filipina, librarian, blogger—who says, "I’m not a techie, but if you really like what you’re doing, you’ll find ways to improve yourself." She may not be a techie, but sexy? Definitely =)
"Internet searches: Librarians do it better" by Megan Rauscher (Reuters, 1 October 2006) - The article states that, "cancer patients are more likely to find what they are looking for with a librarian-mediated search instead of 'going it alone.'" And that's not just for cancer patients. Read the next one.While you're at it, you may as well check out the following, too. All of them—except one—don't quite present librarians as "sexy," but they provide some clues as to why librarian stereotypes persist.
"Most reliable search tool could be your librarian" by Elinor Mills (CNET News.com, 29 September 2006) - "While the Web is good for offering quick results from a broad range of sources, which may or may not be trustworthy, librarians can help people get access to more authoritative information and go deeper with their research."
"Show Your Librarian Some Love" by Todd Gilman (Chronicle of Higher Education, 3 October 2006) - The title is directed toward college professors, but the assumptions the author makes—about what some librarians do—can serve as suggestions to the other librarians who don't.
"Librarians picket film's stereotyping" (UPI, 28 September 2006) - As Steven Cohen says, "I really don't think that picketing will solve the stereotyping issue. Maybe they should have invited the crew inside [their libraries] to show them what librarians really do."
Just in time for Halloween, Target is actually selling an "Adults’ Naughty Librarian Costume." But it's for women only. And to quote Jessamyn West, "Oh my."
And then there's the intriguingly-titled, 1987 video "Betty Glover Library Workout Tape Ad." Click on the arrow below to know why undressing is not necessarily the best way to go =)
Category: Stereotypes
