What Makes a Librarian a Librarian?
Since last week was National Library Week, it seems appropriate that I share this anecdote.
A few weeks ago, I overheard someone who works in a library, does not have a library degree, and does not do the work of a librarian tell someone else that I’m not a real librarian because I don’t work in a library. At the time, the remark really bothered me, perhaps because I was wondering why these two people were discussing me while I was ten feet award and perhaps because there wasn’t a way for me to jump into the conversation to provide any clarification or to start the conversation about what makes a librarian a librarian. Now, I just think it’s funny.
What does make a librarian a librarian?
April 17th, 2005 at 2:45 pm
That’s a tough one. Recently one of the listservs I’m on was discussing this question and someone, responding to another poster without an MLS, basically said “How dare you call yourself a librarian when you don’t have a degree,” which I thought was ridiculous. Are you going to tell someone who has worked in a library for years that their vast experiences don’t matter because they don’t have a degree to validate the work they do?
I agree that it would have been nice for these two people to simply talk to you rather than about you, but to say you’re not a librarian because you work in a nontraditional position indicates to me that they don’t understand how libraries and the work librarians do is evolving and changing.
May 24th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
[...] who works in a library, does not have a library degree, and does not do the work of a librarian …http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jkbaumga/2005/04/14/what-makes-a-librarian-a-librarian/’ECDL 2004: A Digital Librarian’s Report’, Ariadne Issue 41ECDL 2004: A digital Librarian&8217s [...]