About our Image

Librarians definitely have a tough hill to climb when it comes to changing/improving our image. And unfortunately, children (the ones who have the power to some day maybe think differently of us) are often fed atrocious images of what libraries and librarians are like.

In my morning perusal of selection materials, I came across the review for The Librarian from the Black Lagoon (this particular review is for the DVD version of the 1997 publication). OK folks...go no farther...right?

Well, it happens to be a starred review in Booklist. The description goes on...

First, children are presented with what they expect/fear about visiting the school library for the first time. Among other horrible things, there is a "mean librarian Mrs. Beamster ("The Laminator"), who puts kids through a laminator if they talk..." WHAT??!!


OK...I have to admit, that part has me in stitches, but if I were 4 and reading about that.....


The kids in the story apparently end up actually visiting the library and finding out how fabulous it is, complete with knock-knock jokes. But I really wish this type of portrayal would stop haunting us...