I'm not supposed to post this yet. I have scheduled a selection criteria for school librarians to use when picking websites for basic education learners for posting today. But, two situations prompted me to step away from my schedule of postings and come up with something more "controversial". Yes, again a controversial issue but not as dramatic as the dog metaphor/simile of Cristobal.
So you think librarians lead boring lives? Think again. Our profession is teeming with exciting and intriguing issues all the time. Must be hidden behind stacks and stack of shelves, so to speak. Anyhoo, I credit Von, for always stirring things up in the profession. I admire his courage for turning over stones and encouraging people to go see what lies under the rock. My blogging life would be a tad bit monotonous without his scholarly, humorous, and sometimes naughty take on Philippine librarianship today.
If you go to his blog, he's featured three links about librarians baring enough skin to tease the imagination and arouse interest. Now I clap my hands for these librarians who did a Calendar Girls gimmick to change their image. It must be a PR technique that will be accepted and appreciated in their culture. If these librarians think it is one way to make clients stop and take notice and if it's proven effective, congratulations. It isn't porn, people. While others are beginning to abhor the idea (I've read the links and some are offended), I do not. I say, they're creative.
As for the image issue, the Camden librarians' gimmick, simply tells me that they're a passionate lot. Can you bare for your profession? Can you be that intimate to your job - taking off your clothes, your sense of security? Are you brave enough to show your other side? That you as a librarian is as normal as any human being. That it is about time to break the mold and do something different. That going left when everybody goes right is OK.
That's fine by me...but really, I can think of other ways to show how passionate I am to my profession. I can jazz up my image and still keep my clothes on. Can I shed them for a worthy cause for librarianship? I'm a school librarian. My clients are children. They may have a different impression of the image I wish to to convey to them. Thank you (then again...).
And as far as image goes, it's about time librarians gather up in arms and do some age old image busting.
The second situation that prompted me to write about image was a co-teacher's side comment from yesterday's E-Learning session that I conducted with them. I am a tech savy librarian and this co-teacher quipped, "Why not? She spends her day sitting in front of the PC!"
Image is indeed everything!
---TO BE CONTINUED---
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