9.19.2006
"I don't think I necessarily fall under the old stereotype of librarians. I'm not a woman who wears horn rim glasses and I don't usually wear my hair in a bun (unless there are extenuating circumstances). However, I do own a cat. And when I'm working and I have to tell a child (or an adult for that matter) to lower their voice, I often wonder how I went from being on the receiving end of this message to the one that's issuing the order!
As I think back to my childhood, being raised in an inner-city, primarily black neighborhood, I remember my neighborhood librarian being an older white female. And the images from film and television solidified this stereotypical image. So this has always shaped my idea of what the stereotypical librarian looked like. However, when I started working in a library as a teenager, those stereotypes were immediately put to rest once I was introduced to the staff. There was even one manager whose reputation for partying preceded her, yet she was the consummate professional at work. I thought of her as my "hero". I still site her as one of my influences for joining this profession. It just goes to show you how deceiving stereotypes can be!"
LaJuan
Librarian
