I like to think of librarians as those with an insatiable curiosity about
everything combined with a desire to see the relationships between
everything. How can that be faulted?
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu [mailto:owner-law-lib@ucdavis.edu]On
Behalf Of Felice K. Lowell
Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 8:33 AM
To: Jerry_Stephens@ca10.uscourts.gov
Cc: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Re: Librarians' Images
I think lawyers and smokers suffer from the same problem. Maybe we could
create a support group!
Jerry_Stephens@ca10.uscourts.gov wrote:
Luis Acosta added a nice touch to the recent discussion about the image
of the librarian in the popular imagination. It was particularly helpful
when Luis pointed out how the librarians' touch might have been of real
value in some newsworthy events.
I'm not sure that we've really come to grips with that basic issue of
why we're often viewed in some unflattering terms. We librarians are
certainly a conflicted sort. We act with confidence that what we do is
important and significant work. Yet how others see us can really hurt.
Try this paragraph on for size:
"Some children dream of becoming astronauts when they grow up;
others dream of becoming librarians.
A,S. Byatt's characters fall into the second category. Among
them are: an impoverished, confused graduate
student; a literary critic fiercely marking her intellectual
territory; a reedy naturalist chasing down rare insects
in the Amazon; an intensely repressed governess who authors
books about ant colonies on the side; a
beautiful radiologist who regards a bowl of marbles as an
intellectual puzzle. Reclusive and introspective,
they devote their minds to arranging, to categorizing, to
developing an organizing principle for the world:
this is life as a card catalogue."
(Ruth Franklin's review of two A.S. Byatt books: "Inauthentic
Fabrics." The New Republic (April 23, 2001))
There are some things in that paragraph that reflect the work and
aspirations of many of us. Certainly "impoverished" did describe many of us
at one time and may still for some librarians. "Intellectual territory",
"literary critic", "authors", "intellectual puzzle" may each and every one
describe some of us at some time. I, for one, have never been described as
"beautiful," but even there I can hope as I age.
But, it does seem that Franklin's last sentence is the problem. On the
one hand, an ability to categorize and organize seems essential for anyone
who works with information. Yet, Franklin equates librarians and library
work as nothing more than a card catalogue. Almost like a piece of library
furniture. In her paragraph, we're not really the actors doing exciting
things. Certainly not the exciting things that astronauts do.
Jerry E. Stephens
U.S. Court of Appeals
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
email: jerry_stephens@ca10.uscourts.gov
voice: 405-609-5460
fax: 405-609-5461
--
Felice K. Lowell
Assistant Library Director for Technical Services
Cleveland State University
Cleveland-Marshall Law Library
1801 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115
fon = 216-523-7388 fax = 216-687-5284
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