Book Review: ‘You don’t look like a librarian’ by Ruth Kneale

The first thing that struck me about this book was the ‘ooooh!’ factor – flicking through, recognising photos, and exclaiming ‘I know them!’.  Ruth Kneale has packed this book with pictures, comics and book covers – all aimed at ‘shattering stereotypes and creating positive new images in the internet age’.

Kneale starts by examining existing stereotypes of librarians, and reflects on how these stereotypes are not just annoying, but are actually detrimental to the profession and users alike.

The book is full of anecdotes from librarians, which helps both to make it punchy, and to give it a collegiate feel.  Librarians everywhere can join in the groans at some of the prejudices revealed – and I personally am still chortling at the librarian approached tentatively by two ladies in search of the OPAC, and asked ‘Excuse me sir – are you LaserCat?’

From examining real-life stereotypes, Kneale moves into looking at portrayals of librarians in pop culture.  I was familiar with a number of these, but not all of them, and as Kneale says, it is fun trying to identify where they fit in the spectrum of ‘Old Maid; Policeman; Parody; Inept; and Hero/ine’.  It was at this point (reading the book on the train on the way to London) that I wished I was in front of a computer.  Kneale includes so many tantalising internet links that I was forced to pass up on first reading.  Perhaps this book would be a perfect candidate for a Kindle edition?

Chapter 3, and we come to the photos that made me go ‘eep!’ when first looking through the book.  Kneale interviewed a variety of ‘modern’ librarians about their jobs and skills, and includes a small photo of each of them, emphasising that there is no ‘one look’ for librarians.  These profiles were very interesting – not least because I’ve never seen Stephen Abram without a beard before!   Even as a librarian who knows the stereotypes aren’t true, there’s still something incredibly exciting about hearing that a librarian has been inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame!

I expected to skim the book on the train, but found myself really enjoying it, chuckling at some points, and nodding sagely at others.  There is a lot of fun in the book, especially in the chapter on pop culture, but Kneale never lets you lose sight of why breaking these stereotypes is important: if people think that all we are is buns and shushing, they’ll never come to us when they need us, and their needs will go unmet.

Reviewing this book gives me the perfect opportunity to tell my favourite ‘you don’t look like a librarian!’ story: dinner in Washington DC with the SLA Europe board, and then SLA president-elect Ann Caputo.  The waiters were asked to guess what we did.  Their answer? ‘Fashion editors’.