Image and status of librarians

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Image and status of librarians

• Katja Airaksinen
• Terri McCargar
• Sally Perry
• Peter Wood
• Kristin Zimmerman

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1. How others see us? Some stereotypes
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2. How we see ourselves
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We see ourselves as professionals-_______________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

• Professionals who are
• educated
• qualified (sometimes chartered)
• knowledgeable about IT
• organised and efficient
• good at communicating
• people people
• adaptable.
• We are also good multi-taskers, effective at
  managing
• collections, finance, information, knowledge,
  people.

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3. Does image matter?
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The image problem ______________________________
__________________________________________________
___________________________________

• Librarians overly preoccupied with issues of
  image? (US, UK)
• A real danger as the gap widens between the
  reality of work as a librarian and the
  stereotype, the stereotype becomes more damaging
  for our profession.

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Impact on pay ___________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________________________

• Librarians qualifications and status often not
  recognised in pay packets
• Average UK salary for librarians approximately
  24k which is 3k below the average UK salary
  generally, and almost 10k below the average
  salary for Professional occupations (Office for
  National Statistics)
• Gap between male and female pay
• Salary particularly low for a profession
  generally requiring a postgraduate degree
• Often paid on a clerical rather than an academic/
  teaching/ professional grade.

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Impact on job security and resources_____________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__

• Librarians are often seen as
• replaceable by Internet/Search engines
• dispensable or squeezable when it comes to budget
  cuts
• providing a peripheral rather than core service,
  and so can be marginalised within an
  organisation.
• Such perceptions affect libraries as well
• e.g. The Comprehensive Performance Assessment
  Framework 2004 libraries seen as one of the
  least important areas of activity in judging
  council performance

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Impact on role___________________________________
__________________________________________________
______________________________

• Can stifle opportunities for librarians to
  develop their role and the services they offer.
  They often are
• not included in many relevant activities within
  their organisation
• not seen as having much to contribute to
  IT-related projects
• not seen as appropriate for higher level
  management roles (particularly outside
  traditional library environments)
• not associated with emerging areas such as
  knowledge management.
• Higher pay and good opportunities often attached
  to these roles

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4. Changing our image
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What can we do to change the image?______________
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_

• Proactive self-promotion
• Make users/ organisation/ community aware of what
  we offer
• Use CILIP for support/ advice, networking, and,
  as professional body, to drive national campaign
  for better pay and recognition
• Be flexible about role aware of emerging
  opportunities
• e.g. in new sectors, knowledge management and IT
• BUT dont lose sight of the traditional
  strengths/ positives
• rebranding core skills to appeal to new
  generation?