College and Research Libraries ROBERT L. TURNER, JR. Femininity and the Librarian- Another Test This study examined the sex-role orientation of library science students at a large university in the western United States . Each student enrolled in the M.L. S. program filled out the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. This gave each stu- dent a masculinity , a femininity , and an androgyny score. These scores were compared with a normative group provided by the author of the inventory. No significant differences were found between the two groups. It was con- cluded that the library science students were no different in their sex-role orientation from the normative population. This finding is opposite to those found by other studies dated both by instruments used and current societal trends. THOSE WHO WRITE on the subject of the librarian's image agree that there need to be improvements made in that image. The li- brarian is seen as a "kindly maiden lady in Red Cross shoes behind the circulation desk. " 1 In fact , librarianship as a whole is viewed as a female profession that is weak, conservative, nonintellectual , and, most probably, boring. In the midst of this situation is the male who happens to be a librarian . Since the turn of the twentieth century this creature , at best, has been considered "subnormal'' as far as " normal" men go . This image of the male has some scientific basis ; by use of personality tests it has been "proved" that males in librarianship are more feminine than the "normal" male . EARLIER TESTS Alice I. Bryan's study of male and female librarians showed that all exhibited traits of orderliness , responsibility, conscientious- ness, conservatism , and conformism. They also lacked vigor , imagination, and ambi- tion . They were shown to be introspective rather than outgoing, insecure , and more strongly interested in cultural and intellec- Robert L. Turner , Jr. , is the referenc e services librarian , Learning Resources Center, University of Texas of the Permian Basin , Odessa . tual rather than in political and economic ideas ; and they rated high in femininity. 2 Thus, thanks to scientific methods , the li- brarian ' s image and sex-role identity- whether true or not-were set. In the 1960s two other researchers studied the personality of the librarian. Stuart Baillie, who studied the relationship between the library school and job success , gave his subjects the California Psychologi- cal Index (CPI) to fill out. The CPI is a paper-and-pencil test yielding eighteen per- sonality scores , one of which is a measure of femininity. With this instrument Baillie found, among other things, that librarians were significantly (at the .001 level) more feminine than the normative sample pro- vided by the authors of the CPI manual. 3 Another person who investigated this idea was Howard Clayton . He was trying to de- termine whether there were distinctive per- sonality characteristics that could be iden- tified , through statistical measurement, among male students of library science who were enrolled at a major midwestern uni- versity during the summer of 1967. He de- veloped a composite profile that was de- rived by computing the mean of fourteen adult occupational groups (the normative group) listed in the CPI manual. He com- pared his subjects with this composite profile and found that his subjects were I 235 236 I College and Research Libraries • May 1980 lower on sixteen of the eighteen personality scales. On one, self-acceptance, the two groups were equal, and on one, the femi- ninity scale, his subjects were significantly higher than the norm, which indicated that they were more feminine than the "normal" male. 4 It now should be asked: Are the results presented really relevant to the masculinity-femininity roles as they are re- flected in our society today? According to Newmyer the answer would have to be a resounding no. As pointed out in her arti- cle, the problem is not so much whether male librarians are more feminine than the norm, but rather whether the tests that so indicate are really valid, and whether the tests are measuring what is supposed to be measured. The answer is no. 5 If the history of the masculinity- femininity scales that have been used on li- brarians to determine that they are feminine in sex-role orientation is traced, some in- teresting insights will be found. In the two major personality inventories (the MMPI-Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-and the CPI), though the ter- minology differs slightly, the questions used are measuring the same personality traits- such as aggressiveness versus nurturance and ambition versus abasement-as indexes of masculinity and femininity. Since the M-F scales are similar in these instruments, the femininity scale of the CPI will be examined to demonstrate the type of questions asked and their "correct" re- sponses for females. Males, in order to be considered masculine, should answer in the opposite manner. I want to be an important person in the com- munity. (False) I'm not the type to be a political leader. (True) I like mechanics magazines. (False) I think I would like the work of a librarian. (True) I'm pretty sure I know how we can settle the international problems we face today. (False) I must admit I feel sort of scared when I move to a strange place. (True) I like to go to parties and other affairs where there is lots of loud fun. (False) If I were a reporter, I would like very much to report news of the theater. (True) I would like to be a nurse. (True) It is hard for me to "bawl out" someone who is not doing his job properly. (True) I very much like hunting. (False) I would like to be a soldier. (False) I think I could do better than most of the pres- ent politicians if I were in office. (False) I like to be with a crowd who play jokes on one another. (False) In school I was sometimes sent to the principal for cutting up. (False) I think I would like the work of a building con- tractor. (False) When I work at something, I like to read and study about it. (False) I am somewhat afraid of the dark. (True) I like to boast about my achievements every now and then. (False) think I would like to drive a racing car. (False) must admit that I enjoy playing practical jokes on people. (False) At times I feel like picking a fistfight with someone. (False) The thought of being in an automobile accident is very frightening to me. (True) I think I would like the work of a garage mechanic. (False) A windstorm terrifies me. (True) I think I would like the work of a dress de- signer. (True) I think I would like the work of a clerk in a large department store. (True) 6 Notice that the fourth item (liking the work of a librarian) is keyed true only for females. If males answer the question "true," by definition they are feminine. This choice has been labeled feminine because at the time of the question construction the fact that more women than men were librar- ians was a statistical reality. However, this does not reflect the true psychological na- ture of the profession or sex role as it is de- fined today. The author of the test summarizes the model personalities of the two sexes who score high on the femininity scale (i.e., they answer the questions the way females "should") in the following manner: For males, the terms he uses to describe them are appreciative, complaining, feminine, formal, meek, nervous, self-denying, sensi- tive, weak, worrying. Females answering in the exact same way are described as con- scientious, discreet, generous, [having a] gentle helping nature, self-controlled, sym- pathetic, tactful, warm. Those individuals who scored low on femininity (i.e . , answered the way males "should") are described as follows: For males, the description runs adventurous , aggressive, clear thinking , daring , impul- sive, masculine , outgoing , pleasure-seeking, show-off, strong . For females the description is coarse , dis- satisfied, lazy, masculine , pleasure-seeking , restless, robust , self-centered , touchy , tough. 7 It is fairly easy to see on this scale, which is one continuum-males on one end and females at the other-that if two people an- swer identically, one male the other female, one of them is described in positive terms and as being socially acceptable, while the other is described in negative terms and as being socially unacceptable. The same sort of slant occurs in the other personality scales of the CPl. Thus, if this image of the male librarian is to be actually tested , a sex-role inventory without the problems of the traditional scales, such as the CPI, would be needed to test the hypothesis that male librarians are significantly more feminine than the "nor- mal" male. THE BEM SEX-ROLE INVENTORY As can be seen from the above informa- tion, many tests that are being used to Femininity I 237 measure masculinity-femininity are not measuring the traits as they are represented in today' s society. Realizing this fact, Sandra Bern , in 1973, developed a scale that cor- rected for the misconceptions of the other M- F scales that have tended to obscure two very important ideas. The first is that many individuals might be "androgynous"-that is, both masculine and feminine, both asser- tive and yielding, etc.-depending upon the situational appropriateness of these various forms of behavior. The second idea is that strongly sex-typed individuals might be seriously limited in the range of behavior available to them as they move from situa- tion to situation. 8 The Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) has a number of features that distinguish it from other M-F scales . First, it includes separate masculinity and femininity scales , each of which contains twenty items (see table 1). Second , because BSRI was founded on the idea that the sex-typed person was someone who had internalized society' s sex-typed standards of desirable behavior for men and women, these personality charac- teristics were selected as masculine or feminine on the basis of sex-typed social de- sirability and not on the basis of differential endorsement by males and females as most other inventories have done. That is, a TABLE 1 ITEMS ON THE MASCU LI NITY, FEMININITY, AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY SCALES OF THE BSRI Masculine Items Feminine Items Ne utral Items 49. Acts as a leader 11. Affectionate 51. Adaptable 46 . A~essive 5 . Cheerful 36. Conceited 58. Am itious 50. Childlike 9. Conscientious 22 . Analytical 32 . Compassionate 60. Conventional 13. Assertive 53. Does not use harsh language 45 . Friendly 10. Athletic 35. Eager to soothe hurt feelings 15. Hatp& 55. Competitive 20. Feminine 3. Hep 1 4 . Defends own beliefs 14. Flatterable 48. Inefficient 37. Dominant 59 . Gentle 24. Jealous 19. Forceful . 47. Gullible 39. Likable 25. Has leadership abilities 56 . Loves children 6. Moody 7. Independent 17. Loyal 21. Reliable 52. Individualistic 26. Sensitive to the needs of others 30. Secretive 31. Makes decisions easily 8 . Shh 33. Sincere 40. Masculine 38. So -spoken 42. Solemn 1. Self-reliant 23. Sym~athetic 57. Tactful 34 . Self-sufficient 44. Ten er 12. Theatrical 16. Strong personality 29. Understanding 27. Truthful 43 . Willing to take a stand 41. Warm 18. Unpredictable 28 . Willing to take risks 2. Yielding 54. Unsystematic Note: The number preceding each item refl ects the position of each adj ective as it actually appears on the inventory. 238 I College and Research Libraries • May 1980 characteristic qualified as masculine if it was judged to be more desirable in American society for a man than for a woman , and it qualified as feminine if the reverse was true. Third, the BSRI characterizes a person as masculine, feminine, or androgynous as a function of the difference between his or her endorsement of masculine and feminine personality characteristics. There is also a third twenty-item scale on the BSRI , the social desirability scale, that is completely neutral in regard to sex. It was used in the development of the scale to ensure that the inventory would not simply be tapping a general tendency to endorse socially desirable traits . Now it provides a neutral context for the masculinity and femininity scales . THE PRESENT STUDY It was the purpose of this study to test the sex-role orientation of library science students to see if it was different from that of the "normal" population. Two hypotheses were tested : 1. There is no statistically significant (at the .05 level ) difference in the sex-role orientation of the male library science stu- dents as compared with the normative sam- ple on the Bern Sex-Role Inventory. 2. There is no statistically significant (at the .05 level) difference in the sex-role orientation of the female library science student as compared with the normative sample on the Bern Sex-Role Inventory. Method To test these two hypotheses the follow- ing procedure was used: Library science students enrolled in the spring 1977 term at a major university in the western United States were asked to fill out the sixty-item BSRI. The inventory gave the students sixty personality characteristics and asked them to rate themselves on each characteristic on a seven-point scale ranging from 1, "Never or almost never true," to 7, "Always or al- most always true." On the basis of the responses each person received three major scores: a masculinity score, a femininity score, and an androgyny score. The androgyny score was defined as the femininity score minus the masculinity score as outlined in both the Bern and the Strahan papers. 9 The masculinity and femininity scores in- dicate the extent to which a person en- dorses masculine and feminine personality characteristics as self-descriptive. Masculin- ity equals the mean self-rating for all en- dorsed masculine items, and femininity equals the mean self-rating for all endorsed feminine items. Both can range from 1 to 7. The androgyny score reflects the relative amount of masculinity and femininity that the person includes in his or her self- description , and , as such, it best charac- terizes the nature of the person's total sex role. It should be noted that in this concep- tion the masculine sex role represents not only the endorsement of the masculine at- tributes but also the simultaneous rejection of feminine attributes. Similarly , a feminine sex role represents not only the endorse- ment of the feminin e sex role but also the rejection of the masculine sex role. The closer the androgyny score is to zero the more the person is androgynous. The androgynous sex role represents the equal endorsement of both masculine and feminine attributes . Thus, the androgynous individual should be able to remain sensi- tive to the changing constraints of the situa- tion and engage in whatever form of be- havior seems most effective at the moment regardless of its stereotype as appropriate for one sex or the other. 10 Thus , the indi- vidual can engage freely in both masculine and feminine forms of behavior as appropri- ate to the given situation. After the scores for the library science group were computed, those scores were compared with the normative data supplied by Bern . A t-test was used to compare the two groups to determine if the group of li- brary science students was significantly dif- ferent from the normative sample that con- sisted of 917 college students from two different colleges in the spring of 1973. On the basis of this comparison the two hypoth- eses were examined to see if the library sci- ence students were statistically different in their sex-role orientations from the norma- tive group. Analysis of Data All students in the M.L.S. program at a large university in the western United States who were enrolled and taking classes during the spring term of 1977 filled out the Bern Sex-Role Inventory. This group con- sisted of sixteen males and twenty-six females. Three scores were obtained from this in- ventory. One was the score on the mascu- linity scale, which consisted of twenty ques- tions. Another was the score obtained on the femininity scale, which also consisted of twenty questions. A third score was derived from the two just mentioned. This was called the androgyny score and was com- puted by subtracting the score obtained on the masculinity scale from the score ob- tained on the femininity scale. A negative score indicates that the indi- vidual is identifying more with the mas- culine role, while the positive score means that the individual is identifying more with the female role. The nearer the score is to zero, the more androgynous is the indi- vidual ; that is, he or she is equally adept at taking the male or female role in the appro- priate circumstances. The scores for each male subject are presented in table 2. The scores for each female subject are presented in table 3. The scores on the masculinity and femininity scales can range from 1 to 7. This library science group (LIS) was com- pared with the normative group supplied by Subject 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 TABLE 2 S C ORES OF LIBRARY S C IENCE MALES ON THE BSRI Masculinity Fe mininity Score Score 4.85 3 .85 5.5 4.9 4.4 4 .3 6.25 5.05 5.0 4.35 5.8 5.45 4 .35 4.5 6.8 3.85 4.9 4.3 4.7 4.7 4.75 4.75 4.9 4.5 5.9 5.65 5.85 4.75 4.95 5.75 4 .8 5.25 Adnrogyny Score -1.0 -0.6 -0.1 -1.2 -0.65 -0.35 0 .15 -2.95 -0.6 0.0 0.0 -0.4 -0.25 -1.1 0.8 0.45 Femininity I 239 TABLE 3 SCORES OF LIBRARY SCIENCE FEMALES ON THE BSRI Masculinity Fe mininity Androgyny Subject Score Score Score 1 4.75 4.7 -0.05 2 4.8 5.9 1.1 3 4.65 5.5 0.85 4 4.65 5.85 1.2 5 5.4 4.6 -0.8 6 4.1 4.7 0.6 7 5.2 5.85 0.65 8 4.2 6.05 1.85 9 4 .3 6.65 1.35 10 3.7 5.6 1.9 11 5.35 4.6 -0.75 12 4 .5 5.3 0.8 13 4.0 4.2 1.2 14 4.9 6.05 1.15 15 4.55 5.75 1.2 16 5.65 3.85 -1.8 17 4.6 6.2 1.6 18 4.5 5.35 0.85 19 5.4 5.85 0.45 20 4.7 4.0 -0.7 21 3.5 5.15 1.65 22 4 .2 5.55 1.35 23 4.45 4.8 0.35 24 4.4 4.8 0.4 25 4.45 5.85 1.4 26 4.8 4.45 -0.35 Bern for the BSRI. This normative group consisted of 561 males and 356 females who were tested in two universities in California. Tables 4 and 5 show the results of that comparison. Table 6 compares the LIS males with the LIS females. As can be seen from table 4 there are no significant differences on the masculinity , femininity, and androgyny scores between the male library science students and the normative male group. It appears that these male library science students are no more feminine or masculine in their sex-role orientation than the males in the normative group. These findings contradict those cited previously that indicate male library science students were significantly more feminine than the average male. As can be seen from table 5, the female library science students and the normative group did not significantly differ in their mean scores on the masculinity scale. On the femininity scale · of the inventory the LIS females scored significantly (at the .05 level) higher than did the normative group. However , on the· androgyny scale there were no significant differences. 240 I College and Research Libraries • May 1980 TABLE 4 A COMPARISON OF LIS MALES WITH THE NORMATIVE MALES ON THE BSRI Masculinity Score Femininity Score Androgyny Score LIS Males (N = 16) x = 5 .23 so= 0 .68 x = 4 .74 SO= 0 .56 x = -0.49 SO= 0.83 Normative Males (N = 561 ) X= 4.97 SO= 0.67 x = 4.48 SO= 0.57 x = -0.49 so= 0.85 T-score (df = 575) 1.53 1.82 0 TABLE 5 A COMPARISON OF LIS FEMALES WITH THE NORMATIVE FEMALES ON THE BSRI Masculinity Score Femininity Score Androgyny Score *P >. 05. LIS F e mal es (N = 26) x = 4 .60 so= 0.51 x = 5.28 so= 0.64 x = 0.67 SO= 0 .91 Norm ative F e males T-sco re (N = 356) (df = 380) x = 4 .57 0.25 so= 0.70 x = 5.03 2.05* so= 0.53 x = 0.45 1.16 so= 0 .94 TABLE 6 A COMPARISON OF LIS MALE S WITH LIS FEMALES 0 THE BSRI Masculinity Score Femininity Score Androgyny Score *P>. Ol. Males (N = 16) x = 5.23 SO= 0.68 x = 4.74 so= 0.56 x = -0.49 SO= 0.83 Looking at the total results, it appears that the library science females answered in a more feminine way the items on the femi- ninity scale. However, when it comes to the ability to function well in either sex role, as an androgynous individual should, they are no different in that ability from the norma- tive group. It must be concluded, then, that the library science females are not sig- nificantly different in their sex-role orienta- tion from the members of the normative group. When the library science males and females were compared with each other, it was found that the males and females were significantly different (at the .01 level) on all three of the scales, as is shown in table 6. Fe males (N = 26) x = 4 .60 so= 0.51 x = 5.28 so= 0 .64 x = 0.67 so= 0.91 CONCLUSIONS T-sco re (df = -tO) 3. 12* 2.95* 4. 16* What can be concluded from this study on library science students and their sex- role orientation in general? Nothing can, or should, be inferred for any larger population than the one studied. In order for this study to be generalizable to a larger population of library science students, a random sample of library science students would have had to be taken and sampled, and then conclusions could have been made about the larger population. However, this was not done. The major importance of this study is that it casts some doubt on the other studies that have tried to deal with the concept of sex role of the librarian or library science stu- dent, in that it questions the validity of the instruments used in these other studies in measuring sex role, especially the CPI, and it demonstrates that significantly different results are obtained using a newer instru- ment that has, to a great extent, been freed of the more limiting concepts used to form other sex-role inventories. It could be asked if this finding is part of a societal trend toward a less strict defini- tion of sex roles. I believe not. As shown by the Bern inventory , there are still definite sex roles for each sex . The students studied showed many differences between the male Femininity I 241 and female endorsement of sex roles. The question becomes: Are males and females in library science different from other males and females in the society in their sex-role orientation , as has been suggested by the previously mentioned studies? It appears that they are not. It is suggested that many more studies should be done using this instrument and others that may be developed in the ongo- ing search for knowledge about the person- ality and characteristics of the library sci- ence student and the librarian . REFEREN C ES 1. Jesse H. Shera, Th e Compleat Librarian and Other Essays (Cleveland: Case Western Re- serve Press, 1971), p .69-70. 2. Alice I. Bryan, The Public Librarian (New York: Columbia Univ. Pr., 1952). 3. Stuart Baillie, Library School and job Suc- cess (Denver: University of Denver, Gradu- ate School of Librarianship, 1964) . 4. Howard Clayton, " Femininity and Job Satis- faction among Male Library Students at One Midwestern University," College & Research Libraries 31:388-98 (Nov . 1970). 5. Jody Newmyer, "The Image Problem of the Librarian : Femininity and Social Control ," journal of Library History 11:44-67 (Jan . 1976). 6. Harrison Gough , " Identifying Psychological Femininity , " Educational & Psychological Measurement 12:429-30 (Aug . 1952) . 7. Harrison Gough, "An Interpreter's Syllabus for the California Psychological Inventory, " in P. McReynolds , ed., Advances in Psychologi- cal Assessment, 1 (Palo Alto: Science and Be- havior Books, 1971), p . 73. 8. Sandra L. Bern , "The Measurement of Psy- chological Androgyny ," journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 42:155-62 (April 1974) . 9. Ibid.; Robert F. Strahan , "Remarks on Bern's Measurement of Psychological Androgyny: Alternative Methods and a Supplementary Analysis ," journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 43:568-71 (Oct. 1975) . 10. Sandra L. Bern , "Sex Role Adaptability : One Consequence of Psychological Androgyny, " journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31:634-43 (April 1975) . 3 1\-inciples to Catalog by ... Intemgibilitg Fairness Findabilitg* The Joy of Cataloging: Essays, Letters and Other Explosions is not a manual or a text- book on cataloging . Representing the author's major writing and thought in the field of "alternative" and public library cataloging since 1971, this book shows cataloging to be fun, challenging and useful. By Sanford Berman . Available June 1980, ISBN 0-912700-51-3. $15 .00(t) . Closina the Catalog is the pro- ceedings Tram LIT A's institutes on the catalog . Planning for the closing, the impact on reference services , and case histories of libraries already having closed their catalogs are some of the topics covered. Edited by Kaye Gapen and Bonnie Juergens. 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