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We are LIBRARIANS! Hear us ROAR!!

I have been spending my day catching up on my blog reading through Google Reader. Wanderings has posted a blog about the librarian stereotype called I Have a Dream!!! that struck a resonate note with me.

On my Geocities page I have this for my description:

Librarian. It conjures up images of spectacle wearing women stamping books for all they are worth or hushing people-Harry Potter’s Ms. Pince is a good example or Marion from the Music Man.

In this new age of computers this image of librarians is false. Being a librarian means collaborating with teachers to help meet both information literacy & technology goals. It involves training your teachers and students to embrace new technologies as well as new literature. It is a multifaceted job where every day is different.

No matter how many different titles we are saddled with-School Library Media Specialists, Teacher-Librarians, Information Resources Specialist, the simple truth is that we are librarians.

Our individual goals are varied but our basic mission statement remains the same: “To foster a positive environment that encourages inquiry and discovery through the use of organized accessible resources. The LMC program teaches students to be independent lifelong learners who are capable of information retrieval and who value libraries and learning. The LMC provides curriculum support, research guidance, and enrichment through literature appreciation, and other learning experiences to students, faculty, and staff.”

Sound the trumpets!

Still catching up on my blog reading and came upon this post at Annoyed Librarian with a description of the Best Careers of 2008 from the US News & World Report list:

"You may have heard by now that Librarian made the U.S. News list of "Best Careers 2008." The summary of Librarian begins where you would expect it to: "Forget about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm." Ahh, yes, the mousy bookworm. Where are all the mousy bookworms of yore? They might be less annoying than the "high-tech information sleuths" we all must be who "may also go on shopping sprees" and "put on performances, like children's puppet shows." Ugh. The main attraction, though, is that "on top of it all, librarians' work hours are reasonable." That's why I'm a librarian. They say the national median pay is $51,400. I'm always on the lookout for another career, so I took a look through the list."

Again, the stereotype.

Comments

Anonymous said…
learned a lot

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