Ann wears this...

Librarians of a nervous disposition should look away now. I am about to consider a topic that strikes fear into the very hearts of several members of our sustren. I am about to consider the stereotype of the librarian (shriek, gasp, emit!).

Here's a fun little 'infographic' published this week by an apologetic Wikiman:

What temperature are you? Here's how I match up:

Has hair in a bun

I've not regularly worn my hair in a bun since school, when it was temporarily fashionable so to do. The last time I bunned up was just over ten years ago when I assumed the role of an artist for a murder-mystery dinner and stored in my barnet a paint-brush and pencil. The ability to make use of the hair bun as a personal stationery-stash is of great practical value, but is offset by the comparative complexities of creating the bun when considered alongside a pony-tail or hair-gripped alternative. I would not rule out wearing a bun in future, though by current measures of fashion I would find other methods of hair-restraint to be preferable.

Says "Ssshh!" all the time

Of course, a librarian wouldn't have to say "Ssshh!" if the patrons were suitably respectful of their peers, or if the library had been built with better acoustic dampening. The Wikiman asserts that libraries "are no longer silent" anyway: terribly annoying to anybody trying to use them for study, but handy for those of us in the profession who are a touch averse to confrontation. Traditionally I fall into that latter category: certainly, this librarian...

Is meek

I don't see my meekness as a weakness, except where it verges on submissiveness and timidity and hinders my ability to confront mischief-makers. In that respect I'm very keen to find my inner harridan and unleash from her a dash of stern self-confidence. Meet one of my idols:

This is Library Ann. She is an important role-model to me, and she accompanied me throughout my library-school notes. I type the truth when I tell you that I want to be like her when I grow up. She is my image of what a librarian is and should be, and in many ways she inspired me to become one. She is generally somewhat meek, but she takes no nonsense. Though she has a schoolmarmish air, she is by no means cold, except when cold is needed. She is practical and authoritative with a cheeky sense of humour, and I admire her ability to "Ssshh!" with kindness and understanding. It is this blend of meekness and matronly sensibility that I wish to foster within myself, at least as far as my public presence is concerned. Behind the scenes I may have to be a little more wily and tenacious if I am to secure the resources that my library's patrons require. Typing of wile and tenacity...

Likes cats
I went through a phase of not liking cats, when one responded to my advances by gouging great chunks of flesh from my legs. Also, I fear the possibility that I may perhaps be allergic to their fur. I do hope that this is not the case, as, despite the brief, pain-induced aversion I experienced in my youth, I now have a great fondness for cats and aspire to share my home with at least one of their kind at some point in the future. 

Likes order
My bedroom floor suggests otherwise, but this is because my wardrobe is insufficient to my needs. In ideal circumstances I sustain a degree of order to my life and my belongings, but should circumstances slip from that ideal, so my orderliness drifts casually away: things get dumped in the sorting area of my life rather than being neatly shelved where they belong. This untidy chaos will persist until such point that it reaches a 'critical mass' whereby nothing can be successfully located within a reasonable timeframe. Only then will the order be reinstated. This, I accept, would be no way to run a library.

Loves social media
My next cpd23 post will discuss my thoughts on this matter in more detail. Previous posts have also made reference to such things. "Love" is a strong word, especially when considered against "Likes cats".

Wears cardigans
I currently own sixteen cardigans. It is not enough. 

Is a leftie
The last three times I calibrated myself against The Political Compass, my coordinates were (latest reading in bold):

Economic: -9.38, -8.88, -8.38;

Social: -7.38, -6.67, -6.41.

Likes knitting
In my early teens I used to crochet and French knit, but I've never knitted at this side of the channel. I once got a book of Vogue knitting patterns out of the library with the intention of taking it up, but I know full well that the slinky dresses therein would've come off my needles considerably baggier and less stylish than depicted. I don't think I really have the time to fit it in, either. That said, imagine all the cardigans I could make...

Likes Adam and Joe
Slack squadron Podcat. Not like some of our ilk who've been known to have the odd (non-retro) text read out. If you see me on the bus, guffawing like a loon with my earphones attached, it may not be due to some ridiculous yet risible action on your behalf but rather as a consequence of this pair's radiophonic ramblings. [Recalls BaaadDad with whimsical fondness, and sighs to the remembrance of times past].

Has a love of gin
Of all the common alcoholic beverages devised by a bored humanity, the only one for which I have no great fondness is gin. My bar is well stocked, but gin is only in there for my guests.

Totting all that up, I'd say that I come to about 25°C on The Wikiman's thermometer: neither "Cold and Old" nor "Hot New and True".

This is all good clean library fun, but there are those among us who run in horror at the scent of tweed. They worry that the apparition of a librarian in twinset and pearls is enough to make an ordinary member of the public loose their breakfast across the OPAC keyboard. In the stereotype's defence, I thought I'd end by offering a little excerpt from a recent essay what I wrote on the subject of library marketing:

“Current perceptions...may not fit the reality we wish to communicate. As the recent case of the ‘librarian doll’ offered by a US retailer shows, there is a potential for negative stereotyping. The small action figure was a bespectacled woman in a cardigan, long plain skirt and sensible shoes. An ‘amazing push button’ action moved her finger to her lips with a ‘shushing action’. Marketing can counteract such stereotypes.” (Kendrick, 2006:3)

Favourers of cardigans and plain skirts may question why this stereotype is negative (that the doll was a tribute to real librarian and campaigner Nancy Pearl lends further objection). Indeed, stereotypes lie at the heart of marketing; one should not rush to dismiss established shorthands: “In advertising you’ve probably got about thirty seconds...so the use of a stereotype is...to tell people...what the relationship is as fast as possible.” (Bullmore, 1990). If the librarian ‘brand’ is sufficiently iconic as to support a doll, might it be better to build upon that than dismiss it? “The high visibility of many librarian characters within popular culture does show good awareness levels of many positive aspects of the profession, and provides a good grounding for further sector advocacy” (Luthmann, 2007:777). One can usurp stereotypes and harness them to advantage. While we may take offence at some depictions, there exist several librarian heroes in popular fiction. Even ‘negative’ forms may not be as damaging as alleged. The irascible librarian of East Cheam is only so in the face of Tony Hancock, and the much-trod spinster cliché, like any effective stereotype, owes something to reality: most librarians are educated women, if not necessarily tweed-clad cat-lovers. Stereotypes may self-perpetuate, attracting those who conform to its model. Yet Luthmann (2007) observes a profession preoccupied with its own image, despite the wider media seeming comfortable with the stereotype. Even the born-again Frank Skinner finds parts of the image appealing. He notes with alarm the lack of books in Church Street: “I was worried that my out-of-date complaints about libraries had been replaced by a new horror — the books weren’t musty, they were missing... Angry of Hampstead, when he’s outraged at...library closures, probably doesn’t know exactly what he’s defending.” (Skinner, 2010). Any reformer must retain the baby when draining the bath.

Image borrowed gratefully from eBay, where you can buy the original for $10.