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October 15, 2006
Adventures of a Librarian -- on NPR
This Sunday morning, as I'm driving to work (yes, work on a Sunday--it stinks), I was listening to KQED and heard a skit on a Prairie Home Companion. Its title was "The Adventures of Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian." The show isn't archived yet, but it will be soon I'm sure.
In the skit, a very snooty and regressive librarian was portrayed as she told a young male patron to stop listening to an audio book on his iPod and read a "real book." She then went toe to toe with a board member who came in saying that they were getting an automated catalog, eBooks, and a media center. The librarian was in the throes of agony at the prospect. She then practiced a "Canadian martial art" specific to librarians (that she learned as part of "The Librarian Underground" that fights for people's rights to read). Her specific technique convinced the board member that he was a loon (the bird). She then prompted the young man to take over this now vacant seat on the board, as long as he would support "the right" things (implying "no eBooks etc.).
Beyond the fact that we've got a kung-fu-ing librarian who is anti-technology, which is at best a strangely nonsenscial mixed message, I am disturbed by this parody. I couldn't find anything funny about it. Implicit to the story is that fighting for the freedom to read is somehow at odds with introducing technology to the library. In fact, quite the opposite is true. In the digital age, where information about people's reading and computer habits is so much easier to track, our fighting for the freedom to read and privacy measures is even more essential than ever.
I know I shouldn't get all worked up over a silly skit on a Prairie Home Companion show, but I can't help it. Every little thing like this in the popular media that portrays us as musty, dusty, and anti-technology is a huge disservice to the public. It makes them believe that image--if only subconsciously--and sends the message that libraries have nothing that would possibly be of interest to them. *sigh*
Update: I received a reply to my message to the show about this, rather generic, stating: "We very much appreciate your interest in our show, and your comments about Ruth, the librarian on the APHC show on October 14th at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, MN have been passed on to Mr. Keillor. He writes the show and he reads all the mail concerning show content but because of his heavy schedule he can't always respond to letters, even the most interesting ones. Please know that your letter was read and thought about."
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Comments
In my Vermont hometown of 200 people, we were lucky to have a library! The Librarian was afforded the same respect and awe as The Teacher and The Minister (there was only one church and one two-room schoolhouse) and if you were lucky enough to have her to dinner once a year, you hauled out the good china and Grandma killed a chicken in the back yard. The Librarian was the Keeper of Magic Ideas, and opened doors to the World of Books that I live in today. God bless her!
Posted by: Nancy Viens | August 1, 2007
Some people just aren't getting enough ketchup in their diets.
Posted by: Kevin M. Randall | November 2, 2006
I can understand your angst, but what needs to be further understood is Keillor's Prairie Home Companion series. I lived in Minnesota for 12 years. As in many of his skits, he is most likely pointing fun at the local environment - conservative, traditonal, luddite in some respects.
Posted by: Susan Ciconte | October27, 2006
Wow Mitch. All caps! Now everyone is mosts certainly going to take your advice seriously... Caps tend to do that magically.
I stand my position that negative portrayals in the media adversely affect libraries' image with the public. This is nothing radical--it's been written about for decades. This particular skit was just one more example.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | October26, 2006
Some of us like APHC & some don't. Some like GK & some don't. That's life. I happen to enjoy the show & GK, but I can see why others find it distasteful, outdated, boring or whatever rubs the wrong way for you.
I have heard Ruth Harrison Ref Librarian skits several times. I think I missed the one mentioned here. I have been known to write letters to magazines complaining about ads with stereotypical depictions of librarians as old ladies with buns putting their finger to lips to say: ssshhhhh. Or "repressed spinsters" with buns & a sour look on their faces (usually quite ugly, too) putting date due stamps in books. Some of my letters of indignation to the magazine publisher have been published. For what it's worth...
I don't find Ruth Harrison offensive. I laugh. It's silly like nearly everything on APHC, which parodies & sends up just about everything (ketchup...ketchup...).
As opposed to the aforementioned print ads, which seemed to be promoting/promulgating the negative stereotype of librarians, I don't see most APHC listeners suddenly "seeing" librarians as kung-fu anti-technology, clueless dorks. I think most will just laugh & forget about it until the next skit.
I "get it" that the initial author of this post was offended and certainly endorse her feelings, which are valid. I'm glad that she wrote to the show b/c I think it's always good to voice opinions. Perhaps GK will modify the skit somewhat... but for my 2 cents worth, I don't think it's doing our profession a disservice.
Posted by: jw | October26, 2006
CHILL OUT! It was a comedy sketch, not a bunch of hate-mongers with torches ready to burn down the library.
If you don't like PHC, you don't have to listen to it. Just like our patrons - if they don't like a book in our collection, they don't have to read it.
Enough said. Onward!
-- Mitch Turitz, San Francisco State University Library
Posted by: Mitch Turitz | October26, 2006
The sad thing is that many people do believe that stereotype, so I don't think it's the sort of thing that one can joke about with everyone else being in the know that it's all a spoof. Many users, and I speak from much first hand experience here, believe that we stamp books, shush people, and _are_ humorless crones. As such, parodies like this end up reinforcing a stereotype that has the ultimate effect of pushing people away from libraries--libraries with such wonderful resources and services that can really improve people's lives. That is what continues to upset me about this skit, and others like it.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | October26, 2006
I love the Ruth Harrison sketches, first because they're pretty funny, and second because, while Keillor's character representation may be wholly inaccurate, it provides a handy apocryphal counterpoint to the positive, forward-thinking image librarians try to create for themselves.
I'll bet that librarians who hear the sketch--no matter how averse they are to the content--cannot help but recall Harrison's snarky attitude whenever they themselves feel the need to curl their lips and shush harmless patrons. That sort of listener response is what makes Keillor's craft so effective.
Posted by: Sean | October26, 2006
It is meant as a ridiculous stereotype, the kind that's so silly no one really believes it. Sometimes we spend too much time defending ourselves against negative stereotypes and loose our sense of humor about ourselves. Maybe we could take a cue from the skits maven and loosen up like the time Ms. Harrison made a two piece bathing suit out of clear dust jackets!
Posted by: Lauren | October26, 2006
I think Ruth Harrison Reference Librarian is a hoot. Keillor plays with stereotypes all the time, and just the fact that he uses this stereotype of librarians means that he doesn't take it seriously, and neither do his listeners. Librarians need to loosen up, or they run the risk of re-enforcing the image of the humorless old crone.
Posted by: Sam | October26, 2006
I don't hate PHC...I don't always like it either. But this continues to rub me the wrong way each time I think of it.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | October20, 2006
Just more reason to hate PHC, I say.
Posted by: Vivvian Darkbloom | October20, 2006
New media was mentioned in the skit, but the hero of the piece, the librarian, was clearly thwarting the introduction of such things into the library. That is what I don't consider appropriate.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | October19, 2006
I heard the skit-it's not the first time Ruth Harrison--Reference Librarian was on the show. I loved it and had quite a different reaction to the "stereotype." Maybe I don't have quite the same sensitivity to the bun-haired, gum-soled, shushing spinster stereotype, but I did start as a children's librarian and they get their own abuse even from within the profession. Most of us cherished the Librarian Action Figure, didn't we? Isn't this similar? I was particularly amused how a mid-level staff could so directly undermine the efforts of the library board. Remember, too, that their were lots of messages about the new services and media types libraries offer. I look forward to more episodes of Ruth Harrison, and appreciate the national plug for public libraries. Here's a recent one where she defends the rare book collection: http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2005/10/08/scripts/ruth.shtml
Posted by: John | October18, 2006
The usual left-leaning views of Keillor and PHC seem to be at odds with this skit. I wonder how they got fed it. As someone else said, it could be a writer's personal experience, but I also wonder if it was fed to them.
I was just at the Iowa Library Assn conference last week and Michael Stephens was there discussing Library 2.0. I heard more than one semi-resistant librarian scoff at the idea of blogs, wikis, etc. in the library. I finally had to tell one particularly idiotic support staffer (sadly, my coworker) that she'd better suck it up and deal, because this stuff is the wave of the present, not even the future! Our job is to do it right, and take the opportunity to create some more info literate citizens (and staff) in the process.
Posted by: Louise | October16, 2006
To Sharon,
I did send these same comments to A Prairie Home Companion.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | October16, 2006
To irkstyle, Yes, I know that there are librarians who think this too--but they are far in the minority, at least in my experience in both public and academic libraries. The anti-technology view is a minority one, but because of its sensationalism, that is the one that always gets the press attention in the media. I think that is a shame, and a real disservice to the bulk of our users who want more technology in the libraries that can help them live better and more productive lives.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | October16, 2006
As a frequent PHC listener, and a GK fan, I've heard many installments of this story. I try not to be offended - it's just a skit; everything they do makes fun of one group or another; she IS fighting for the rights of readers at all times... but it's just depressing that she is such a stereotypical fuddy-duddy. I expect more from the show.
Posted by: Sarah | October16, 2006
Amen Sister.
Posted by: Sandra Stewart | October16, 2006
Sarah, I, too, cringe at the oddly mixed message of the kung-fuey (kung-phooey?) anti-tech librarian in APHC. (Then again, I have been cringing at APHC for many years now - in my view, a more toxically nostalgiac, self-congratulatory show does not exist on our airwaves, except perhaps on evangelical TV.) Anyway, your comments regarding the APHC skit tie in nicely with the lively conversation going on at Library Garden thanks to Marie Radford's recent post on the now-ubiquitous Naughty Librarian Halloween costume. Be sure to read the comments -- lots of interesting conversation there!
Posted by: Sophie Brookover | October16, 2006
You should definitely express these thoughts to Garrison Keillor. I think the PHC website provides a feedback feature. You might even get some air time on NPR.
Posted by: Sharon | October16, 2006
Those sound like specific situations and I bet you $100 bucks that the writer has crossed paths with a librarian like that in real life. There are people in the communities we provide a service to who think that technology should not be in libraries, that reading only relates to books and maybe magazines and that the internet access should be up to the individual. And yes, LIB, there are librarians who think that too and not all of them are old enough to remember when the technology was invented either.
Posted by: irkstyle | October15, 2006
