davidrothman.net

Librarians ’should be sexier’

Update:

UPDATES- NEW TITLES SUGGESTED:
(Suggested substitute titles for when “librarian” is abolished)

1. Bibliodominatrix
2. Information Alchemist
3. Indagatrix (Latin, f. investigator, explorer)
4. InfoWarrior
5. Imperious Knight of the High Knowledge
6. Information Goddess (/God)
7. Knowledge Hacker
8. BookWench (/BookWretch)
9. Faithful of Wiborada (the librarian)
10. Circle of Wiborada (librarians) (Wiborada is the patron saint of the librarians.)
11. Chosen of the Information Matrix
12. Infomagineer

——————————————————–

I should probably find this annoying, but I don’t. I keep giggling.

Via lo-fi librarian, I came across this article from thisislondon.co.uk, with interesting ideas on how how to improve the perception of Britain’s libraries.

Alex Aiken, a Westminster council official and “former policy director for the Tories,” expressed to a conference of the Public Library Authorities his belief that “[t]he concept of the librarian has to change and perhaps a start would be to abolish the title itself, with its connotations of middle-aged conservatism.”

(A Tory complains about middle-aged conservatism? I don’t know a lot about UK politics, but isn’t middle-aged conservatism sort of the bread-and-butter of the Tories?)

But the response wasn’t entirely negative:

“Librarians come in all shapes and sizes – and that includes the very photogenic,” said one library chief, adding that some of his colleagues are “incredibly exciting”.

[Insert here David's snorting and snerking sounds as he imagines how fast this would get a library director fired in the states and constructs mental video of a middle aged, balding Englishman calling his colleagues "incredibly exciting" with a straight face and an English accent.]

Anyway, I propose a contest: If the word “Librarian” was to be abolished, what title would we use instead? Remember that Aiken said that “racy” titles should be stressed.

Information Alchemist? Knowledge Engineer? How do you make a title both accurate and sexy?

Any ideas? If I get a few, I’ll post a poll so we can vote on the new, sexy title for librarians in the UK.

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November 16th, 2006 | Category: Fun, Library promotion, Perception of Libraries/Librarians | Subscribe to comments | Both comments and pings are currently closed

Amanda Potter:
November 17th, 2006 at 9:31 am

I would definately go for “Information Alchemist”. As for the article, I always find myself shaking my head when I hear that libraries need to be more “sexy”. After all, we’re information professionals, not the Rockettes.

Tobi:
November 17th, 2006 at 12:05 pm

How about “Faithful of Wiborada” (the librarian) and “Circle of Wiborada” (librarians)? Wiborada (http://www.catholic-forum.com/saintS/saintw27.htm) is the patron saint of the librarians. Ok, this isn’t really modern too, but would apppeal to catholics and fantasy fans

For the science fiction fan we could adapt to “Chosen of the Information Matrix”.

Eiseldora:
November 17th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

Information Goddess

Scott:
November 17th, 2006 at 1:29 pm

“Knowledge Hacker” might be a good one. As for librarians needing to be sexier, maybe my new Lip Service goth gear and Utilikilt will help with that. =)