Colleagues:
The less than courteous e-mail sent to Ms. Tripp prompted me to comment.
Perhaps the person who sent that message missed what I think is an
important distinction.
I think that we can all agree that our efforts and expertise are not
always adequately valued or compensated. As a reaction to this, we take
steps to get others to view us as 'professionals'. This is a good idea,
but I think it is important to make a distinction between taking your work
seriously, [a good thing] and taking yourself too seriously [a not so good
thing]. Taking yourself too seriously can lead to oversensitivity to any
perceived challenge or threat, with unfortunate consequences.
If we take ourselves too seriously, we risk perpetuating the negative
stereotypes we are trying to get rid of.
(off the soapbox & back to work. . .)
Christopher Noe
Assistant Director / Public Services Librarian
School of Law Library; University of Mississippi
noe@sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu
phone: (601) 232-7361 ext. 339 fax: (601) 232-7731
wireless: N7AMG
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