Are you really a librarian?
For years, people have debated who’s really a librarian. Library degree holders only? Paraprofessionals? Those who work in libraries doing the work of librarians but have no special training? Information scientists in non-library settings? Finally, an answer is on the horizon with this quiz Jessamyn mentions. Take it to find out if you really are a librarian.
And, yes, looking up the answers during the quiz is probably cheating.
OK, well, honestly, I don’t think the quiz is as relevant to special librarianship as it is to other kinds of librarianship. There are lots of questions about the Dewey Decimal System, the American Library Association, and cataloging. That’s all well and good for many kinds of librarians, but it kind of puts us special librarians at a disadvantage because we might be less likely to work with Dewey, belong to the ALA, or perhaps even catalog. I’m not whining; I’m just making an observation.
(And my ALA membership renewal confirmation letter is on my desk at work with some of the answers printed on the back! Ugh!)
My Web browser crashed just as I clicked the finished button, so I had to take it twice.
I was gonna tell you what I got, but I think maybe I’ll wait until some of you have taken it. Not surprisingly, I didn’t do well.
Just as I started taking the quiz the first time, a friend messaged me:
friend: waving hi 
j: *j waves
j: I’m taking a test to find out if I’m really a librarian
j: I’m sure I’m scoring horribly on it
friend: 1. You are good looking.
:: 2. You think independently
:: 3. You get personally involved.
:: 4. You’re under the age of 60
:: Clearly, you are not a librarian
j: hey!!!
j: I resemble that remark!
(Don’t worry: my friend is joking about the horrid stereotypes of librarians.)
(Chat text shared with permission.)
Addenda: So, yeah, I got to work and dug up my ALA membership renewal letter to read the Library Bill of Rights and American Library Association Code of Ethics on the back. Whoops! I got both of those questions wrong.
1/24: I said I’d post my results later. Here they are, with the hopes that the HTML code doesn’t wreck this blog entry:
| Assistant Librarian You scored 68% on knowledge of librarianship. |
|
You seem to be a librarian, but you are not as knowledgeable as your more devoted colleagues in some of the library lore, trivia, technical details and social knowledge that can give depth and perspective to ones professional identity; but your practical knowledge of your job may be quite excellent. |
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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| Link: The Are You a Librarian Test written by attention on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
Addendum 2/24: Amanda Robertson on Data Obsessed points here.
January 28th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
According to this fascinating and scientific psychometric instrument, j, you are three times the librarian we are, which sounds about right….
Dowbrigade