In the article “So You Think You Want to Be a Librarian?,”
author Brian Kenney states:
“Let’s be honest. At one time, librarianship was a beacon
for misanthropes.”
Merriam-Webster
defines a misanthrope as a person who does
not like other people. I didn’t understand Kenney’s statement, because
to me,
one of the tenets of librarianship is helping other people. In fact,
it’s the main reason why I never considered librarianship as a potential
career for
myself. As someone who considers herself more introverted than
misanthropic,
librarianship was never on my radar…despite a lifelong love of reading
and
libraries. Librarians were the people at the reference desk, or walking
around
the library, speaking with patrons, and answering questions. After a job
history of retail positions, I wanted a career without customer service
responsibilities.
I finally settled on non-profit administration as my path, and after
college
landed a job doing just that in a museum. Even though my museum did not
have a
library, I learned that other museums did. I learned that special
libraries
exist in all sorts of organizations, even in ones that don’t serve the
public.
I learned that there was a sector of librarianship, technical services,
where
librarians spent their days organizing information rather than
interacting with
people.
Once I learned that a librarian could be a person who performs
administrative tasks, in an information center setting, I realized I wanted to be that
kind of librarian.
Any other introverts out there who dismissed librarianship
at first?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think the days of the the librarian misanthrope are certainly over - that is if they ever really existed in the first place. In my experience working in both public and academic libraries, I see librarians in all kinds of roles actively engaging with others every single day. Even at the administrative level, I think the expectation exists that librarians should be 'selling' the library to the community and forging partnerships with other organizations as much as possible. This would be challenging for a true misanthrope.
ReplyDeleteI have worked with people who were not misanthropes, but were not attracted to the parts of the profession that entails providing service to or working with others. I believe that many introverts who tend to be skilled in organizing and classifying things, are analytical and thorough and meticulous, those people may have gravitated toward the profession at one time. This may apply to people who "end up" there as opposed to those who choose librarianship and pursue a career path. Also, in academic libraries, you may find professors/scholars who choose library work over teaching. I think in the past decade or so, there have been quite a seachange and the library field has attracted a wide variety of types with many interests. Technology is a much more important component of library work than in the past, as is teaching. But I think the misanthrope comment may have held some truth but is largely a stereotype.
ReplyDelete