Wednesday 23 September 2009

On Monday 14th September librarians from across London took part in the Stuart Hall Library Hollywood Librarian event. This was the first event of its kind in art libraries and was a forum to debate librarian stereotypes, discuss practicalities of the library and information profession, and also take part in screenings of librarians in cinema.

Librarians from Goldsmiths, Chelsea, Lambeth, UCL, NHS, Imperial College, Wellcome Library, Central Saint Martins, BFI, RIBA, University for the Creative Arts, local government, Tower Hamlets attended and took part making up a diverse range of librarians from varying sectors and with a vast range of experience.

Hollywood Librarian was the first event organised by the Stuart Hall Library for other librarians and was intended to introduce a vast range of librarians to our library that might have previously unaware of our collection and resources. It was also a fantastic opportunity to gather all kinds of librarians to dispel the myth of what it is that we actually do and to share ideas and experiences.



The screening of the documentary Hollywood Librarian kickstarted the day and served as an introdution to this topic. Reactions to the documentary were mixed as the focus of the film is not in fact on cinematic representations of the librarian. These celluloid images are briefly referenced, but the documentary instead focuses on a selection of real life librarians, primarily based in the USA, while addressing specific issues of the Patriot Act and budget cuts.

While most were expecting a more in-depth look at the historical documentation of libraries and librarians through cinema, the documentary was a good starting point for discussion and documented a multiplicity of cinematic representations such as The Music Man, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Librarian.

In relation to the documentary we looked at Mary Seale's article
Old Maids, Policeman, and Social Rejects: Mass Media Representations and Public Perceptions of Librarians (2008). Seale identifies 5 librarian stereotypes :

1. The old maid librarian
2. The policeman librarian
3. The librarian as parody
4. The inept librarian
5. The hero/ine librarian



In two groups we discussed the possibility of other stereotypes and other examples of fictional characters. A wide range of fictional representations were highlighted such as Phillip Larkin's 'A Girl in Winter', Timothy from the TV programme 'Sorry', and also representations of librarians in Mills and Boon novels. In groups we discussed three other stereotpyes to be added to the list:

* The grumpy librarian - resentful of people's enquiries and hesitant to share his/her knowledge

* The pin-up librarian - the librarian as a sexy vixen or innocent seductress. We discussed the idea of the library as being taboo and forbidden.

*The rebel librarian - slightly different to the hero librarian and was inspired by the documentary in which real life librarians fight censorship laws and budget cuts.



We also used our group disucssions as a way to talk about our own experiences and backgrounds in libraries. While we were all from various different sectors, many of our concerns and issues overlapped such as the misconception of our roles as librarians not only from our library users but sometimes occuring within our own institutions. The discussions served as a forum for sharing skills and knowledge to appropriate and/or dispel the negative stereotpyes attributed to the library profession.

We discussed the historical aspect of the library profession and agreed this was an interesting framework for the discussion. Prior to Melville Dewey setting up the initial library schools and allowing women to become librarians, the library profession was a male profession and highly respected and revered. As the profession became a female dominated profession the role lost its respect and was instead subject to ridicule and negative stereotypes. We then discussed notions of gender in relation to these stereotypes. Some of the group had argued that the negative stereoypes in place for librarians could simply be seen as negative stereotypes for women. We discussed the idea of a fear of knowledge and power in what is seen as a female profession, and how in turn the representation of women as librarians are effectively punished for their access to knowledge.

We focused our discussion on barriers that exist in the library that affect user perceptions. We discussed aspects of the library environment that can often alienate or promote a negative atmosphere e.g. signs enforcing negative language that instruct users on what they can't do rather than what they cant do. Many libraries are now assuming new identities such as creative hubs, social learning centres etc as a method of affecting change in relation to user perceptions. We discussed the merits as well as the complexities and problems with these case studies, and again our own diverse range of skills and experiences allowed a dynamic and genuinely useful discussion.

We discussed other examples of librarians who are attempting to change the way libraries are viewed such as the Love Libraries scheme, the Get it Loud in Libraries series of events in Lancaster, and also performances and activities in Westminster Reference library and Southwark libraries.

And after a heavy day of discussion and debate what better way to end things than with tea and cake and a screening of the cult library film Party Girl? Unfortunately we didn't have time to have a discussion based on the final film but we would love to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments section of the blog what you thought of the film.

Hollywood Librarian was a wonderful opportunity to meet local librarians, art librarians, and public librarians and to establish the Stuart Hall library as a place for active discussion. We are already planning our sequel to this event for Spring 2010 with more film screnings and more discussions and will be posting here with details.

Until our sequel event there was significant interest in organising a book and film group dedicated to discussing examples of librarians and libraries in literature/comics/films. This is currently being organised and the list of suggested reading materials and films to view will be posted here monthly. If you are interested in joining this book/film group then please do let us know in the comments. Alternatively you can email us library@iniva.org

A big thank you to to everyone that turned up on the day and joined in, it was a pleasure to have you in the library and we hope to see you again. Big thanks also to Obinna Nwosu, Josie Steele, and Maxine Miller.

Monday 7 September 2009

Suggested reading

In preparation of the Hollywood Librarian event next Monday we have compiled a related bibliography covering aspects of the library profession, professional stereotypes, cultural perceptions, media representations, and examples of films and texts that perpetuate this stereotype. This list is not exhaustive and we are welcoming all suggestions for additional academic texts/articles/films/literature/websites

Please use the comments for this post to let us know about anything we may have missed.

Please also continue to check the blog this week as we will be adding additional information about the event such as the itinerary and discussion points. See you next week!

Hollywood Librarian Bibliography

Books

De Rosa, C. (2005) Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources. OCLC

Dyer, R. (1993) The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations. Routledge

Kneale, R. (2009) You Don’t Look Like a Librarian: Shattering Stereotypes and Creative Positive New Images in the Internet Age. Information Today

Roberto, K. (2003) Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out. McFarland

Slater, M. (1980) Career Patterns and Occupational Image. Aslib.

Tevis, R. (2005) The Image of Librarians in Cinema 1917-1999. McFarland.

Wilson, P. (1982) Stereotypes and Status: Librarians in the United States. Greenwood Press


Articles

Adams, K. (2000) ‘Loveless Frump as Hip and Sexy Party Girl: A Re-evaluation of the Old Maid Stereotype.’ In Library Quarterly. Vol 70, No 3

Balling, G; Skouvig, L. (2008) ‘Digital Reading Groups: Renewing the Librarian Image.’ In New Library World. Vol 109, Iss 1/2, pp.56-64

Bobrovitz, J. (2001) ‘If the (Sensible) Shoe Fits: The Image of the Librarian.’ In Wired West. July 17th www.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/wwest/v4n4/jbimage.htm

Foster, W.E. (1890) ‘Being a Librarian.’ In The Library Journal. October, pp.294-296

Hamilton, V. (2004) ‘The Image and Role of the Librarian’ in Library Review. October, Vol 53, Iss 8, pp.416-418

Luthmann, A. (2007) ‘Librarians, Professionalism and Image: Stereotype and Reality.’ In Library Review. Vol 56 Iss 9 pp.773-780

Parham, N. (1923) ‘As Others See Us.’ In Illinois Libraries. July pp. 44-51

Radford, M; Radford, G. (1997) ‘Power, Knowledge, and Fear: Feminism, Foucault, and the Stereotype of the Female Librarian.’ In Library Quarterly. July, pp.250-263

Sable, A. (1969) ‘The Sexuality of the Library Profession: The Male and Female Librarian.’ In Wilson Library Bulletin. April pp.748-751

Seale, M. (2008) ‘Old Maids, Policeman, and Social Rejects: Mass Media Representation and Public Perceptions of Librarians.’ In Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship. Vol 9 No 1 http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v09n01/seale_m01.html

Walker, S. (1993) ‘The Librarian Stereotype and the Movies.’ In MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship. Vol 1, No 1, pp.16-18

Wiebe, T. (2004) ‘Issues Faced by Male Librarians: Stereotypes, Perceptions, and Career Ramifications.’ In Colorado Libraries. September, pp.11-13


Weblinks
21st Century Librarians
ALA http://archive.ala.org/diversity/student.html

Cool Librarians
http://valinor.ca/waycool.html

Internet Archive : Program Details for The Librarian http://www.archive.org/movies/details=00526

Librarian Action Figure (Archie McPhee)
www.librarianactionfigure.com

Librarian Avengers
http://www.librarianavengers.org

Librarian.net
http://librarian.net

Librarians in Comics
www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/2161/combks/combks.htm

Librarians in Fiction
http://valinor.ca/el3.htm

Librarians in the Movies
www.byui.edu/Ricks/employee/raishm/films/introduction.html

Library Stuff
http://www.librarystuff.net

Library Underground
http://www.libraryunderground.org/

Library-usability
http://library-usability.org

The Lipstick Librarian
http://www.lipsticklibrarian.com

LISnews.com
http://lisnews.com

New Breed Librarian
http://www.newbreedlibrarian.org

Stereotype Librarian
http://stereotype-librarian.blogspot.com/

Warrior Librarian
http://www.warriorlibrarian.com

You don't look like a librarian
http://atst.nso.edu/library/perception

Filmography

Chainsaw Sally
Burril, Jimmyo (dir)
United States: Redfield Arts
2004

Desk Set
Lang, Walter (dir)
United States: 20th Century Fox
1957

Goodbye Columbus
Peerce, Larry (dir)
United States: Willow Tree
1969

The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag
Moyle, Allan (dir)
United States: Touchstone Pictures
1992

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear
Winther, Peter (dir)
United States: Electric Entertainment
2004

The Mummy
Sommers, Stephen (dir)
United States: Universal Pictures
1999

The Music Man
DaCosta, Morton (dir)
United States: Warner Bros
1962

The Pagemaster
Hunt, Maurice & Johnstone, Joe (dir)
United States: 20th Century Fox
1994

Party Girl
Mayer, Daisy Von Scherler (dir)
United States: Party Productions
1995

Storm Center
Taradash, Daniel
United States: Columbia Pictures
1956

Strike up the Band
Berkeley, Busby (dir)
United States: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
1940