Being Neutral

There are a lot of stereotypes surrounding librarians. People picture us as little old ladies in quiet rooms, with huge signs that say QUIET, and a finger always to our lips prepared to shush anyone who speaks at any volume above a whisper. Having met librarians, talked to librarians and wanting to become a librarian myself, I can say that this is a pretty untrue notion of librarians. Another untrue stereotype surrounding librarians is that we are completely neutral.             

                I suppose it’s only natural. You go to someone to ask them a question and you except them to give you an answer or several sources that will provide you with an answer and these are supposed to be completely unbiased, no sides taken, neutral. The problem with this theory is that no matter how hard a librarian may want to be neutral, may try to be neutral, or may insist that they are in fact neutral, they probably aren’t. You see the thing I learned when I talked to librarians is that they are in fact human. Granted I suppose there could be a couple space aliens out their biding their time before they take over the planet, but the majority of librarians are human, and to be human means to be biased.

                The Atlas of New Librarianship puts it perfectly, stating that humans are predisposed to “certain ways of thinking and seeking new information” (Lankes, 2011, p. 123). Basically we all have biases, they come from the way we grew up, the people we met, even what knowledge we learned. However, having a bias doesn’t mean you have to be ruled by it. If that were true then there would be a lot more bigoted people in the world. Being a librarian doesn’t mean that you have to be completely neutral about everything, you may have an opinion on things, you may not agree with your members, but that doesn’t give you the right to stop helping them. For example, a librarian who believes in evolution cannot simply ignore all questions directed to them about creationism. The librarian may not believe in creationism, but he or she may still help that patron find resources on the topic without being judgmental or disputing the member’s question. One of the things The Atlas of New Librarianship discussed that I found really meaningful was the idea that librarians should capture all viewpoints, even the minority views. Librarians don’t have to be some mystical completely neutral person; instead they can acknowledge their biases and try to be open to new ideas or ways of thinking.

Lankes, D. (2011). Atlas of new librarianship (pp. 122-125). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.