Librarians in Literature: Here Lies the Librarian

Once in a while I stumble upon a book with librarian characters that veer off the stereotype.

Oh, you know what I'm talking about! Most of the time, librarians are portrayed as boring and the job (we do) is far from exciting and essential. The Vilma Santos movie, In My Life, is one example. Santos' turn into a librarian was fueled by miseries that life had dumped upon her. From an exuberant PE teacher, she became the unglamorous librarian who resists change. Through this characterization, the librarian's role as enabler and agent of change dissipates. The librarian's indispensable contribution to literacy development and enlightenment is extinguished.

It must be an artistic bent on Olivia Lamasan’s part to use the job of a librarian as metaphor for Santos’ character’s surrender from the zest of living. It would have been better if Santos’ character discovered healing and a zen like approach to life’s many whippings through the books a librarian reads every so often in the library. Or, the routine and systematic work that librarians do would have offered her (Santos’ character) safety and refuge from the unpredictable dictates of fate. Next to the church, the library is a sanctuary for the lost and the confused. Sadly, Lamasan does not know her Library and Information Science. Her writers should have at least did a bit of research.

History and literature has many exciting librarians to be proud of! Such is the case in Richard Peck's Here Lies the Librarian.

In the young adult novel, Peck presented not one, but five librarians. Four lively, spirited, head strong, young and RICH library science students and one dead public librarian. Such contrast! Peck buries Electra Dietz, public librarian of Hoosier County, for good reasons. She doesn't like children and arranges the books on the shelf according to its sizes. On the other hand, the four library science students of Brent University possess the qualities and characteristics of the ideal librarian.

Irene Ridpath, leader of the pack, is confident, outspoken and fearless. Boy, do we need librarians like her. Grace Stutz, poised and pretty, daughter of an automobile scion is well organized. She loves working with and for children too. Lodelia Fulwider is proud of her academic preparation. She knows how expensive library resources are so she values preservation and conservation. Geraldine Harrison is the group’s technology and innovations expert. Note that these young women carry one or two endearing qualities of a librarian. Peck did not lump them all in one person.

He also knows how costly libraries are so he made the librarians rich not only in the pockets but in their hearts as well. The six hundred dollars annual salary was shared among the four. The job entails a lot of heart and a fullness of spirit. What a positive portrayal of the stereotyped librarian! Idols to emulate, right?

The characters are all works of fiction, products of the imagination. In general, they are reflections and representations of our beliefs and who we want to be. We’re not sure how the young reader will turn out to be when he or she reads the novel. One consolation is that, after closing the book’s they may hold on to hope. That the future may be strange and unfamiliar, but with role models to look up to, real or imagined, facing up to life’s challenges is a part of living it to the fullest.

Again, the Losyang Librarian

I finally got to watch In My Life, the Vilma Santos-Luis Manzano-John Lloyd Cruz love triangle. In all places, I saw it in a bus bound to Manila. I was on my way back home from Baguio after a successful storytelling session at the public library there. Somewhere on the road between Tarlac or Pampanga, the bus conductor popped a DVD copy of the movie for the entertainment of bored passengers.

It was a good copy. Bluray. The captioning was in English. No grammar mistakes and misspellings. What's more, it was well translated. It was not a pirated copy then. As for the movie, I enjoyed it so much I wrote a review at TCG.

But what I paid close attention to was Vilma Santos' character. This movie is one where the lead happens to be a librarian. It did not revolve on Vilma's character, Shirley, being a librarian though. Her being one was used to a amplify her monotonous and routinary lifestyle. She was once a Physical Education teacher -- lively, active on the go. Then life whipped her with failures and heartbreaks one after the other. Somewhere in between, she underwent a transformation. She retreated to a life made of procedures, processes and structures. Controlled and secure, she thrived in the library as a sarcastic, uncompromising and stoic person. Yes, masungit (grumpy), old fashioned and losyang (unglamorous). Bam! There goes the formula.

Here we see now the typical librarian as a stereotype. Note that in media, stereotypes are used to label something - a brand, a product, an object. Ideas and perspectives, information included, can be labeled as well. It is made. It is constructed. In printing and publishing, a stereotype is a metal plate cast from a model or a matrix. It is constant. It does not change.

Like it or not, the librarian stereotype exist. It will be used to present an idea of the profession as boring and it's practicing professionals far from being dynamic. What worries me more is the possibility of this stereotype to mutate as an archetype.

At the end of the day, we can all say that Vilma Santos' character as the stereotype librarian is merely a representation of an idea or a character used in a movie. But a movie is a form of storytelling. And storytelling is powerful. It does not help that In My Life is a well written and well crafted movie.

This stereotype will stick. The sad thing is, librarians, the ones who breathe and live outside the silver screen are far from the stereotype depicted in the movies and in literature. How can librarians reach their full potentials to portray roles that will help propel their institutions, offices and organizations to achieving its goals when this stereotype exist? How can this stereotype be broken when such a construct is already embeded in the minds of many an administrators and co-workers?

We, librarians, have our work cut out for us.

Ako ay Librarian ( I am a Librarian).

At hindi ako Losyang! (And I am not unglamorous!)

At may nagbibigay pa ng flowers sa akin, ha! (I still receive flowers from admirers, ha!)

Carry mo magsuot ng ganyang earrings? (Can you wear such big, dangling earrings?)

Mukha bang losyang? (Do I look unglamorous?)

Kasama ang aking kabiyak. (With my beloved Papadoms).