3 stars
| I am currently pursuing an MLIS degree and am writing a paper on gender stereotypes and librarians for one of my classes. This book looked perfect for a little light research so I got a copy from the library (of course). Overall, this book was well-written. It is very casual, which makes for easy, conversational reading. The book is broken down into sections touching on various stereotypes, representations in pop culture, blurbs about various librarians and how they battle the stereotype, and some “thoughts on the future”. The information provided in the book was interesting and useful, plus it was a quick read which is always nice. There were a lot of great recommendations for comics and books featuring librarians, which I immediately added to my TBR list. The only downside to the book is that it is dated. It came out in 2009 and some things have changed in the past ten years. Sadly, maybe not so much in the stereotype department, but definitely in the pop culture department. Many of the references are out of date and are no longer updated. However, the book does have a corresponding website (which still works!- www.librarian-image.net/book) that features the references and links to pages. It’s actually a very clever way of updating information and beautifully mirrors the shift of libraries from book-based information to web- and multimedia-based information, but I digress. Anyway, overall I liked the book. It was a nice look at some of the perceptions of librarians as well as some ways people in the profession work to counter the stereotypes (which was perfect for my paper). The book also contains some of Kneale’s survey findings of patron perception and librarian beliefs, which was interesting. Goodreads |