The Ubiquitous Librarian

Be like Emeril: my response to Steven Bell

A few weeks ago Steven Bell posted about librarian careers on the ACRL Blog. He urged us not to worry about where we are professionally- that careers are like marathons. He described the ebb and flow of the hills and valleys that we encounter and instead of getting caught up in the spotlight, encouraged us to think strategically about how we can position ourselves for the next five to ten years.

Well spoken for his generation, however my generation only cares about celebrity. Turn on CNN and you’ll probably see something about Britney Spears within ten minutes. Flip to MTV and you’ll see 16 year old princesses crying because some second-rate band won’t play at a party. Open the New York Times and you’ll read about “hip” librarians.

We’ve become a culture of instant success; Sartre’s nightmare of fashion above all else. The American Dream has shifted away from a good job, a white picket fence, two kids, and a dog--- and is now about prominence, contempo-organic living space, and 15 minutes of reality TV fame.

And the thing is… I would not want it any other way.

What the library profession needs are transformative personalities. Emeril Lagasse is a perfect example. Before he came along my diet was microwaveable, and cooking shows were horribly boring. Martha Stewart is my grandmother’s brand. Emeril brought style, flair, showmanship, along with expertise. He opened the doors for others like Bobby Flay, Jamie Oliver, and even Rachael Ray. If you look at the Food Network demographics over the past decade I’m sure you’ll see a dramatic increase in male viewers, and it’s not all just because of Giada.

Emeril transformed cooking; he made it cool, popular, and approachable. The same can be said for Howard Schultz and coffee. Before Starbucks the town I grew up in had one coffee house where lots of wanna-be pretentious artist types hung out, along with the wanna-be wanna-be’s like me. Growing up no one talked about coffee, that was something our parents drank. Now there is coffee shop on every corner and someday there will be one in every library.

Emeril and Schultz have had a tremendous impact not only on the food and beverage industry, but on our society. Why don’t librarians think like that? Why don’t we talk about experiences instead of transactions? Bell urges us to ford the river, but I say build big bridges.

Happy New Year everyone.

When Hollywood Takes Over Your Library: The Full Account (revised)

We had a film crew in the Library all day on Monday and I had a blast. As someone with over 400 titles in my Netflix Queue, it was really cool watching the process. Of course, they had it all wrong—they show the Information Commons as a quiet space with a few random students here and there—when in reality it is always bustling. And the ‘librarian' was pretty much a cliché, although there was no bun or shhhhh—I guess your stereotypical baby boomer female librarian. But all that aside, it was a fun way to spend a day of break week. I was able to sit on the sidelines for most of the filming, although an “assistant” cleared us out during an action scene in the stacks.

I was surprised that they chosen our library as opposed to the Emory Library which has a more ‘classical' look.

Anyway, the film is One Missed Call , which is horror flick along the lines of The Ring .

The highlight was chatting with the lovely Shannyn Sossamon . She's very chill and down to earth.

Bonus Material:
My co-worker Alison posted this about the day. Her blog is private, so no link:

There was only one incident that left a *gasp* on every librarians face: the film crew was caught painting the ends of some books to make them stand out on camera more and to remove the "Georgia Tech Library" stamp. Supposedly, the crew will be paying for the damage....but still, that was sacreligious in a library! Some of those books could have been out of print! I wasn't down with that. Bring your own books if your going to do that.

A few star sightings: Shannyn Sossamon ( A Knights Tale),  Ed Burns (The Bros. McMullen)....(see below)...


It always breaks up the monotony of the day ..when a movie crew moves in. It just sucks when your ready to leave work only to realize a giant crane holding set lights is blocking your car..(which also actually happened to one of my cowokers)....

Here are a few pics from the day.