"Knowledge Broker"

It's very strange, but I know that the minute I mention what I do for a living, the person I'm talking to immediately gets the wrong idea. All because I use one simple little word: Librarian.

The following conversation occurs far too frequently in my life:

"What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a librarian."
"Oh. Do you enjoy it?"
"Yes, I do. It's a great job."
"I wouldn't mind having to read books for a living."

Usually, at that point, they change the subject to something they consider more interesting before I get the chance to mention that I don't read books for a living and, in fact, I'm lucky if I even get to see the inside of a book in the course of my job.

The sad fact of the matter is, most people don't really know what a librarian does - but they honestly believe they do. This strange, shadowy stereotype slipped into the public psyche at some stage in time, and convinced everyone that they know what a librarian is and what a librarian would do as a normal part of their day. Should you, however, press for details, you would find they can't actually give a shape to their stereotype. They'd have better luck telling you what a brain surgeon does than a librarian.

So, what do I do as the normal part of my day? I find answers to questions. I teach people how to use technology. I point the way to lost souls who need direction.

It's my job to connect you to the information you want. That doesn't really involve reading many books. It does involve knowing where to look for books on given subjects - and increasingly it involves knowing a fair bit about the topics that would be covered by those books.

Especially at this time of year, when the first year students don't even know what they don't know, I find I have to give some of my clients a brief "overview" of the sort of information they are looking for. Someone has given them an assignment, but they have no idea what half the words in their question even mean...

Someone has to help them understand what they need to find and how they need to look for it. That someone is me.

This job is really a dream come true for a person like me. My problem is that I've always been interested in everything (I used to say I was interested in everything except sport - but now I've even started developing an interest in that) - jack of all trades, master of none. There aren't many jobs out there that encourage generalisation, but being a librarian is one of them.

As a librarian, I get to learn a little bit about everything. It's brilliant. Every time someone comes in with a question I either get to learn something new or share what I already know.

I used to be an English/Drama teacher, and I couldn't stand the fact that I was constantly trying to bring information to people who weren't interested in it. As a librarian, I don't have that problem. People come to me because they actually want to know something. I help them find what they want to know. Both of us end up feeling happy about it all.

And yet, this job which makes me so happy is so misunderstood by the general populace. That darn stereotype has just wedged itself in their brain - and there are people who clearly don't believe me when I tell them librarians aren't what they think we are.

Take Batgirl, for example. Okay, that's a really weird example, but hear me out. Barbara Gordon, who used to be Batgirl, was (and still is) a librarian for her day job. When the Joker shot her and she lost the use of her legs, she created a new alter-ego for herself: Oracle. Look up any "Who's Who" of the comic book universe and they will tell you that Oracle is a "knowledge broker" for the other superheroes in the DC comics. What does this "knowledge broker" do? She looks stuff up on the computer and connects people to the information they need.

Yes, that's exactly what a reference librarian does. So why do they call her a "knowledge broker" and not "librarian to the superheroes"? Because the average punter wouldn't be able to comprehend the idea of a "librarian" who spends all her time looking up things on the computer. Don't they just read books?

So, perhaps, as someone once suggested, we should call ourselves something other than librarians. Then maybe people will understand and respect what we do?

Not this little black duck. I absolutely love being a librarian, and I'm happy to say it loud and proud - and if no one else knows what I'm talking about, well that's their problem.