"Librarians" are not quiet and shy !

[Cheerleaderdave]

I am sick and tired of being stereotyped on mn as being shy and retiring because I work in a library.

I serve customers, tell stories to children, lead baby rhyme time sessions, run a children's book club, organise library events, lead school visits , do school assemblies. I love my job but sick of people saying ohh that must be quiet.

Just saying!

Theres another thread about quiet and introverted people tonight too.

Most people haven’t got a clue about what work in a library entails. Must people haven’t got a clue about a lot of things. Most people are unthinking idiots, and their opinions aren’t worth a great deal.. There, I said it.

Yeah you can’t move for threads on here about librarians 🤨

I know it's mad!

@Cheerleaderdave agree with you it gets very boring and they all think they're the first to say it. Libraries are far from quiet these days and likely to get more noisy with them being utilised as 'warm/welcoming spaces' for people unable to heat their homes this winter.

I’m a librarian. Technically. Have never actually worked in a library though. Most of us are in corporates and professional services.

I am not even a librarian!

I can't remember seeing anything on here singling out librarians. Where is this? Seems unlikely, I think the average Mumsnetter would be quite fond of librarians (not ours, she's a force to be reckoned with).

While we're at it, I'm a professional nerd but I don't wear glasses. Smashing that stereotype one eye test at a time.

There seems to be a trend for people to make their jobs sound more exciting. It’s impossible to hear a scientist talking about their job nowadays without them calling it ‘creative’ and needing a lot of ‘imagination’.

Yesterday I listened to an accountant talking about her work. Apparently it’s much more interesting than most people think.

OP I am sure you’re busy in your job and perhaps people don’t realise what libraries are like nowadays. But, though. It’s still a library.

But, though. It’s still a library.

What does that even mean?

It's true I still tidy shelves and shelves books...

I would say you are unreasonable to be the slightest bit bothered about the opinions of some people on the internet that you don’t know; including me!

I'm surprised people haven't seen the stereotype referred to on here, I've seen it pop up quite often - usually in discussions about jobs - as the pp said there's one on the active pages now where a (self declared) shy introverted person says that perhaps they should be a librarian!

I always think whenever someone says that it's a clear indication they haven't ever been to a library in the last decade!

If anything you'd have to have the opposite to the traditional librarian characteristics to work in one nowadays - strong IT skills, good at talking to people seeing as most public libraries are now community hubs and authoritative rather than shy (as when you need to tell creepy men to stop watching porn on the library computers!). Perhaps academic or specialist librarians could be more traditional but then they usually tend to still have to do quite a lot of outreach, lots of IT support, often need to know quite a lot about things like data protection and records management etc. too so a lot of technical/legal knowledge rather than being all dreamy and creative!

I'm not a librarian but an archivist, we have a lot of the same stereotypes (when people actually know what we are at all!)

I don't know, OP. I work in the public library system, and also know quite a lot of librarians in the sciences and universities, and I would say that the majority of people I know in these positions are introverts.

That's not quite the same as "quiet and shy" but I suspect it's getting at the same thing.

I am a librarian and I suppose, an extrovert. We don't get much time to "tidy shelves" as we are usually helping people with their lives, it's not all Enid Blyton and finding a book for someone.

Helping people who need help with I.T, booking births and deaths registers, dealing with people who use the library for somewhere to sleep, helping people who just feel lost. There is more but what is the point of carrying on with this...

Council libraries are run ragged with a 100 and 1 jobs and activities. The men librarians in my area were very extroverted. They spent so much time chatting and playing pranks over shushing people.

Aren't libraries supposed to be quiet? I used to enjoy the peace and quiet when I visited. Not everything has got to be all singing and dancing. Somewhere for some quiet introspection can be a good thing.

Most people are unthinking idiots, and their opinions aren’t worth a great deal.. There, I said it.

This is the most basic fact if life, and it's impossible to be a functioning adult without understanding it.

However, despite knowing that 90% of people are complete idiots, I still keep finding myself falling into the trap of thinking other people know what they're doing and seeing things go disastrously wrong (particularly at work) as a consequence. So I'm obviously one of the 90% myself.

Librarians, who needs them in the digital age?

IME, generally, librarians are an eternally frustrated and bitchy bunch, not shy.

So you're a Librarian?

So you're a Librarian?

Hell no.

🤫Shhhh

I knew a librarian whose father was a very famous (think James Bond film) stunt man. The apple never falls far from the tree 🤣.

They're not shy where I am. They're grumpy towards the kids.

I don't think that people really know what an actual librarian is and most libraries are staffed by library assistants or basically trained customer/admin people now not actual qualified librarians. But I also am undereducated on it.
I struggle to remember one indexing system let alone all the other stuff.
Librarians are underappreciated, misunderstood party animals! (Not sure about the last one)