Gender Week wrapped up this past Thursday with a lecture that shattered the stereotypical librarian image depicting a prudish, middle-aged, silence-loving white woman. Their historical look at the profession characterized modern librarians as a young and diverse crowd.
The speaker, Loriene Roy, president of American Library Association (ALA) and director of the Center for Women's and Gender Studies at University of Texas at Austin, cited a recent New York Times article to illustrate the modern librarian. The article, titled "A Hipper Crowd of Shushers," documented a group of young male and female librarians whose behavior and attitudes have helped disperse the stereotypes.
"The article depicted the new, hip librarian as a person who could combine skillful use of technology with locating the right information upon request," Roy said. "Reporter Kara Jesella described a group of 20 and 30-something librarians, gathered in a bar, drinking margaritas, wearing retro clothing and sporting an abundance of tattoos."
According to Roy, men constituted a majority of librarians in the mid-19th century. This changed when Melvil Dewey - the father of the modern American library system for his invention of the Dewey Decimal system for classification - began teaching female undergraduates at Columbia University in the 1880s. Less than 20 years later, a majority of librarians were women.
"During the 1920s Progressive Era, 90 percent of librarians were women. Through their profession, these women participated in the social movements of their time," Roy said. "The ALA has carried this push for social change to the present day."
Roy's lecture, entitled "Librarianship: A Testbed for Gender and Diversity Issues," also focused on how the history of the library system in the United States defines its present-day mission for librarians to advocate for social justice.
"In the Internet age with Web sites like Google, there is still a need for libraries. Libraries now provide a greater range of services than ever before. Our data indicates that library use is up, circulation volume of books is up and computer use is up," Roy said. "We provide an indispensable service to the public."
Dean Hendrix, a librarian at the UB Health Sciences Library and chief organizer of the event, thinks that Roy addressed topics of interest to both students and members of the University faculty.
"As ALA president, Loriene heads a very influential organization that lobbies Congress. People came to hear what the ALA is doing; its work in diversity and its advocacy for public libraries," he said. "It is interesting to hear how libraries around the world are changing with the times."
Roy's message of social activism appealed to Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, graduate student in library and information studies.
"I am glad to hear that the purpose of my profession is to ultimately change the world," she said. "I agree that the younger people entering the profession are changing its public image."
Roy believes that the stereotypical librarian has faded from the public consciousness due to an influx of motivated young people into the profession.
Although white women still make up the majority of the percentage, the number of librarians from other racial and ethnic backgrounds has increased every year, according to an ALA-sponsored demographic study called "Diversity Counts."
In addition, the study showed that librarians are becoming better educated than ever before.
"Over the ten years (between 1990 and 2000), the number of degreed librarians increased by 21.6 percent," Roy said. "The number of people from different racial and ethnic communities increased 152 percent."
The changing role of librarians may be a force in the increase of degreed professionals in the field. Roy believes that the central task of the librarian has changed from finding books to filtering the information presented by a plethora of sources.
"We have a range of formats from audio, video, print and the Internet. Librarians can deal with the overflow of information," she said. "When you search Google, you get thousands of hits. The librarian helps people sort out what's relevant and what's not."
According to Roy, the current goal of the ALA is to continue the diversification of the profession.
"The ALA has established the Spectrum Scholarship Program, which benefits Native American and African American students looking to enter our profession," she said.
Sarah Hodges, graduate student in library and information studies, thought the lecture was educational.
"I learned a lot about the history of librarianship," she said. "It was cool that somebody like the president of America's largest library association would come to UB."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
