I am Annoyed Librarian

This is just to make it known that I am Annoyed Librarian. Though I think it would be obvious, you just might wonder why I'm annoyed.

I am annoyed because so many librarians are blind to viewpoints other than their own when it comes to libraries - yes, I believe that libraries are a Good Thing - I did, after all, leave a lucrative career to become one. However, not everyone sees them this way. We have to be willing to step back and view the library the way those who don't see libraries as a naturally good thing do and we must be willing to prove our value to those people. Yes, libraries have to justify our existence to those who think in business terms. Being angry about this does no one any good - instead, we have to learn to do it.

I am annoyed because libraries can be so slow to change, because in almost every library there is an old guard who say "yes, but..." to any new idea, because as a profession we are so in love with committees and discussions that we don't get things accomplished.

I am annoyed because it seems so very difficult for new/young librarians to break into the field - there is now an "old guard" of young librarians who, for whatever reason, seem to make it difficult for newer librarians to be involved. I don't think it's intentional, and I do think it may be a function of profession structure, but I still feel like it's there.

I am annoyed because the profession is represented by a top-heavy organization that is made up of the true old guard, who appear to be are the kings and queens of the "yes, but..." when new ideas are proposed.

I am annoyed because this is a profession with women in the majority - and with that come the things that I dislike about groups of women. Not all women in any group do this, but there can be a cliqueishness to groups of women that reminds me of high school - I'd like to think that as adult professionals, we would have grown out of this, but I know that not everyone has.

Ok, maybe I'm not THE Annoyed Librarian. But I am a librarian, and I am annoyed by things in the profession. I am also at times annoyed by people in the profession - whether the old guard or the "twopointopians" (as the real AL calls us) who don't see the forest for the trees - or the trees for the forest.

My point? We're all Annoyed Librarians in some way, shape or form. The AL does not have a monopoly on annoyance. What s/he does have? A voice that's gotten out there, however anonymous it may be. A turn of phrase that makes people talk - no matter how annoyed we may be by the saying of these things.