Today is Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating women in technology, so I'm (unsurprisingly) going to talk about librarians.
Firstly, I don't think I need to mention that the library industry is very much a female dominated sector. Around 85% of library professionals are women. However, this wasn't always the case. A century ago, the library profession, like most, were exclusively male. One of the most famous of librarians, Melvil Dewey, became a leading advocate for employing women in libraries, setting up a library school that *only* accepted women, sparking major controversy amongst the library industry.
Then again, it is also reputed that Dewey was a misogynist anti-semite, who only employed women for their lower wages. Nevertheless, this was the turning point for the library industry.
Now, one thing that really does irk me - on a par with people who say that YA literature isn't "real" literature - is that library science isn't "real" science. However, the main thing that attracted me to this industry is my personal passion for (a) literature, (b) technology and (c) working in the community.
Working in libraries, and pursuing studies in library science provides ample opportunity explore all of these areas, with the major academic focus being on scientific methodology with information access, in terms of classification, usability, software design, information architecture, information seeking behaviour, trends in content creation, etc.
Yes, it's a science. It's not rocket science or nuclear physics, but the technology of information science is very much at the core of our society. Humans are social creature, dependent on constant access to information, as an authoritative source, and as a means of maintaining community with our peers.
And librarians are the information scientists who work in building and facilitating the libraries, as machines that provide this access to our community, through our physical and virtual spaces.
And the vast majority of those are women.
It is unfortunate that librarians have such a poor branding when it comes to technology. Personal mentors and those who I most admire most in my field have been (with the exception of a handful) women, and their achievements and visions for technology in our community have been absolutely inspirational.
And last December, at the ALIA New Librarian's Symposium, I met dozens of young female graduates who are intelligent and savvy, and ready to embrace innovation and the technology on which libraries needs to be on the forefront.
Some people say that "it's a shame" that there aren't more men in the library industry, and there are certainly marketing campaigns attempting to attract more guys, focusing on the technological aspects. However, speaking as a male, I have never felt professionally isolated in this industry because of my gender. The industry is fine, just as it is, and those of you who say that libraries need more guys, because of the growing focus on technology, need to get your heads out of the dark ages!
So, Ladies of Library Science, thankyou for being amazing. I owe pretty much everything I know about libraries to you, and look forward to working with you in making this world an awesome place.
