Ditto

In the comments section of a recent Annoyed Librarian post on library professionalism, a commenter, "Gruel" wrote:

"I keep wondering what it is you self-identified librarian "clerks" do all day, if you keep wondering what it is to be professional. The reason why doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc..., are seen as professional is because they aren't insecure about themselves. They don't question whether they are or not, they just are. If you saw a dentist that appeared to be having an identity crisis about his "professionalism" you wouldn't let them treat you, would you? Same thing goes for a lawyer, astronaut or car mechanic. The reason you trust them is because they trust themselves to do the best job possible.


Confidence is 9/10ths of the job interview. The problem with librarians is that many of them flounder about and do not understand what value they give to the community. If you see yourself as just a clerk who helps people find books and answers trivia questions, then that's what you are. If, instead, you see yourself as contributing to your community by supporting their needs, like providing resume classes, e-government services, and literacy tutoring, then that's what you are.


The librarian profession is unique in that our job is defined by the needs of our patrons more so than any other profession. When the economy turns for the worse, we can respond directly to the crisis. Whether or not a library chooses to do so determines its success as an institution that has the confidence and trust of the people. So, if a librarian feels that they are just a clerk, then the value of the library itself comes into question - especially in times like these when the budget is on the line. It's too bad that library schools do such a poor job at defining librarian identity and value, because it seems so many of the fold simply do not have an inkling of purpose to measure success or failure."

I could not think of a better way to re-write this, therefore, cut, paste, post.