Image and status of librarians

1. Image and status of librarians Katja Airaksinen Terri McCargar Sally Perry Peter Wood Kristin Zimmerman

2. 1. How others see us? Some stereotypes…

3. 2. How we see ourselves

4. 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.

5. 3. Does image matter?

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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…

10. 4. Changing our image…

11. 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: don’t lose sight of the traditional strengths/ positives • “rebranding” core skills to appeal to new generation?