So, returning to our discussion… Despite professional advances in the last century that have redefined how the library functions in society, librarians still must endure the image of the outmoded shushing minion. That is why, as Katherine Adams explains in her seminal article "Loveless Frump as Hip and Sexy Party Girl: A Reevaluation of the Old-Maid Stereotype" for The Library Quarterly, librarians have eagerly sought to redefine themselves with the available (and sexy) new technology:

As librarians increasingly define themselves as information or knowledge managers, media specialists, or information scientists, advocates of this change within the profession welcome the opportunity to throw off the stereotypical representation of the librarian as a loveless frump hiding behind her spectacles and surrounded by her books.⁷

New technology, new stereotype

But this has given rise to a new stereotype at the library: a utilitarian keyboard-wielding automaton hiding behind a monitor. To the patron, for instance, there might be little recognition that anything more than a Google search is being accomplished at the reference desk.⁸ It's all very well to call oneself an information specialist, but there is little to suggest the applied skill of expertise.

The title of librarian, however, evokes the physical building itself, the books and other materials within, and a team of library staff all working together to bring the patron the tools and products of information processing. Without the distinction accorded by the librarian stereotype, cautions Adams, the profession will lose the recognizable "branding" of what a librarian makes possible.⁹

Embrace the stereotype, and exploit its promotional potential.

The role of the librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification of superhero-dom, what is?
      –Nancy Pearl, real-life model for the L.A.F.¹⁰

Old stereotype not gone yet…

… do you have your Librarian Action Figure?