Countering librarian stereotypes, staying engaged, and moving forward
This week's newsletter mentions my post reviewing an animated show with librarian stereotypes, developments in the library and archives fields, and more, to keep you informed during this crisis!
Hello everyone! I hope you are all having a great week despite COVID-19 and with some of you likely at home under lockdown or self-quarantine.
First, I’d like to highlight a recent post that reviews a show which features a “curmudgeon” librarian. Apart from the specific popular culture review, I note how there is a portrayal of a librarian who is an “older White lady who fits all the stereotypes” commonly associated with librarians, adding that some librarians have taken the attitude to be curmudgeons and embraced it, although many more have countered it. I end by saying that while the episode doesn’t counter stereotypes of librarians, it was fun since other episodes didn’t focus on libraries, and I love when the librarian ejects the protagonists after literally destroying the inside of the library. While her being a “curmudgeon” is an awful stereotype, there should be no exception for literally causing all the bookshelves inside the library to collapse like dominoes!
That brings me to articles relating to the library field. Hack Library School had a banner week, with articles about how you can stay professionally engaged even while working at home, importance of digital reserves in this pandemic environment, and next steps for libraries. Other articles focused on shelving ideas and libraries in the time of COVID-19. Apart from that, The Atlantic wrote about how public libraries have responded to COVID-19 and NBC News noted how library workers are fighting for safer working conditions amid the pandemic.
There were a number of other stories worth highlighting as well. For one, the SAA’s Performing Arts Collection shared a story on productive working remotely by the performing arts special collections of the Library of Congress, while Archives Aware! interviewed Susan Malsbury, director of the Estee Lauder Companies archives, and Off the Record, another SAA blog, this one run by the organization’s leaders, reprinting an article from the fall of last year which explained why volunteers are important. Additionally, the EFF argued, in one of their posts, that lengthening patent terms is not the right response to COVID-19, while numerous scholars focused on open access publishing, immunity during the pandemic, the effects of past epidemics on public health, and the importance of health literacy.
That’s all for this week! Hope you all have a great rest of your week.
- Burkely