Thursday 31 March 2011

Article: Media/Public Perceptions of Librarians

Representations of librarians by the mass media generally fall into one of five somewhat discrete categories. Public perceptions of librarians are somewhat different; although librarians are often described in positive terms, there is nearly no awareness as to the knowledge, duties, skills, and education of librarians and, as a consequence, public perceptions draw more heavily on stereotypical representations of librarians’ personalities. Ultimately, librarians and libraries tend not to be effectively utilized, as users remain unaware of librarians’ abilities and responsibilities.
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Despite the variety in mediums and approaches, the ideas around librarians... can be classified into the following categories, which are not completely discrete: the old maid librarian, the policeman librarian, the librarian as parody, the inept librarian, and the hero/ine librarian.
The article goes on to expand upon these categories. This is a good but brief introduction to the ideas and examples of librarian stereotypes.

[ Read more of "Old Maids, Policeman, and Social Rejects: Mass Media Representations and Public Perceptions of Librarians" from Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship, v.9 no.1 (Spring 2008) ]

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