Librarianship: The Erosion of a Woman's Profession

by Roma M. Harris, Charles R. McClure (Editor), Peter Hernon (Editor)

Librarianship is undergoing a profound period of change due to pressures generated from within the profession as well as to shifts in the economy. The processes shaping the future of this field cannot be fully understood if we ignore the fact that, for more than 100 years, library work in North America has been women's work. As a result, the members of this profession experience great doubt about their field and its image. In their attempts to enhance its status to conform more with the model of professionalism exhibited by traditionally male fields such as medicine and law, librarians run the risk of losing their identity and, ultimately, control over their profession.This book addresses these issues from a feminist perspective. The developments in the field are also considered from a comparative perspective in that they are compared to the changes taking place in other female-intensive fields such as nursing and social work. This is the first thorough look at these issues from the point of view of librarianship's history as a woman's field.

Genres: Nonfiction, Librarianship

186 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1992

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great little book. I thought the 1992 publication date would mean it was seriously outdated, but a lot of what Harris described continues to occur. (Alas.) And the more technical stuff that was outdated provided some context for things that have happened in the last 30 years or so.

That said, it does take an exclusively binary approach to gender and doesn't address racism even a little bit

The conclusions, in a nutshell -- instead of going along with expectations of male-coded professions, librarians can take a feminist approach:
- recommit to a non-authoritarian service ethic
- advocate for equitable access to information
- engage in labor activism

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's an interesting book, but it is also very repetitive and constantly running around in a vortex of circular reasoning. I keep waiting for her to propose solutions but so far it amounts to stop worrying about if you're a professional and just do your job well.

[Samantha Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little dated but still thought provoking