College and Research Libraries There Goes My Image: The Perception of Male Librarians by Colleague, Student, and Self Locke J. Morrisey and Donald 0. Case A study of 132 undergraduate students, 70 M. L. S. students, and 29 university librarians used twenty semantic differential word-pair scales to compare perceptions of male librarians among these groups. The investigation supports previous studies showing that librarians believe they are viewed in a more negative light than is the case. Male librarians and library students be- lieved the public's image of themselves to be more submissive, meek, nervous, effeminate, re- served, following, subdued and less approachable, athl.etic, and attractive than the undergrad- uate sample actually saw them. Women and men respondents saw the male librarian differently, as measured by the frequency with which they used certain descriptors. In general, the members of the male library group felt the male librarian is looked upon negatively when he actually was looked upon quite positively by the other respondents. ibrarians have been concerned with what they perceive to be a poor public image for quite some time. 1' 2 Not long ago, American Libraries added a column on the public image of the librarian and asked readers to submit examples of librarian stereotypes. The results of this informal survey indicate that librarians believe that the first thing that comes to the public's mind is an image of a stereotypical spin- ster who spends her time quieting patrons whose voices rise above a whisper. This negative image is reinforced by the media, especially in advertising. Nabisco, Frito-Lay, Dr. Pepper, Toyota and Ex-lax are all companies that have been accused of portraying librarians in stereotypical or other inaccurate ways. 3' 4' 5 In one adver- tisement for an American Motors automo- bile, the vehicle was portrayed as so excit- ing that it frightened librarians. This advertisement drew enough protests to compel the company to publish an apol- ogy.6 The comic strips For Better or for Worse and Bloom County; the television shows "Kate and Allie," "Murder She Wrote," and "Nova"; and Morgan Fairchild's beauty book, Super Look, have all por- trayed librarians in a less than desirable light. 7 Arnold Sable notes that the librar- ian may be viewed by the public as: 11 someone you would not want your son to marry, an ultimately pitiable figure with no 'outside interests' .... There at the Locke f. Morrisey is Librarian at Hughes Aircraft Company, Electro-Optical and Data Systems Group, El Se- gundo, California 90245-0902, and Donald 0. Case is Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024-1520. 453 454 College & Research Libraries desk she will stay, stamping out her books, until her retirement.''8 Negative stereotypes of librarians hin- der recruitment into the profession; di- minish the respect librarians receive from client groups and administrators; inhibit individual and group initiative; and, ulti- mately, hinder the advancement of the profession. Men in librarianship are doubly stigma- tized. They are stereotyped because they work in a female-dominated profession and reflect the traditional negative image of librarians. A male librarian may be seen as an ineffectual, ''kindly and sometimes effeminate misfit." 9 This attitude ema- nates directly from the conception of ''librarianship-as-women' s-work. ''10 The resulting perception is that "no healthy man of normal intelligence should go into it . . . and no good man should be found dead in the library business.'' 11 Male librarians are not alone in their need to deal with this problem. Men in other female-dominated professions- nursing (97 percent female) or elementary school teaching (84 percent female), for exam~le-may also be perceived as effem- inate. 2'13 Some studies show that male li- brarians have a higher number of femi- nine traits in their personalities than males in general. 14'15'16 This is not a perception that male librarians would wish to foster, and, in some cases, it may inhibit their professional functioning. Sable claims that "The male librarian wants first, be- fore proving himself as a librarian, to prove himself as a male. He does not want to be considered as belonging to the fe- male stereotype. " 17 Evidence in favor of this viewpoint is of- fered in J. Hart Walters' 1970 study in which the author demonstrates that men tend to be evasive about telling others they are librarians. 18 Instead, male librari- ans opt for a more gender-neutral or mas- culine professional title, such as educator or information scientist. Further evidence of male concern about image is provided in Pauline Wilson's discovery that a dis- proportionately high percentage of the seventy-seven reviewed articles that treated the image of librarians were au- thored by male librarians. 19 September 1988 Researchers find that the feminine stereotype of the librarians is strongly pro- nounced among students of all ages. For children who lack contact with male mem- bers of the profession, portrayals on tele- vision, in films and in print play a power- ful role in shaping their perceptions. As Martha Merrill says, ''In the mass media, children do not see male librarians." 20 11 Panek and others found librarians to be the third most strongly sex ster- eotyped occupation among the twenty-five job titles they exam- ined." Even among adults, librarianship is still viewed as a feminine profession. In a 1977 study of 162 college students, Panek and others found librarians to be the third most strongly sex-stereotyped occupation among the twenty-five job titles they ex- amined.21 Even more dramatically, Eva Shinar found that head librarian was the ninth /'most feminine/' among 129 occu- pations ranked by 120 college students; manicurist, receptionist, and prima balle- rina ranked higher. 22 Thus, a male librar- ian may be unrealistically viewed by the general public. Student images of librarians tend to be negative, especially during high school. 23' 24 Librarians are perceived as proctors who remind students to be quiet or ban them from the library for minor in- fractions of the rules. Some of the adjec- tives students use to describe librarians are impersonal, cold, reserved, quiet, seri- ous, and strict-perhaps not the worst im- pressions possible, but far from the best. 25 Still, as more men and women enter cross-gender professions, these attitudes and stereotypes may be changing. Today, many librarians doubt that strong stereo- types continue to exist, except perhaps in the minds of colleagues preoccupied with this problem. Does a stereotype of male li- brarians exist? More specifically, does it exist on university campuses? If it does, what is it? Is it the same for both academic librarians a.nd their patrons? The investigation reported here was conducted to determine the image of male librarians among librarians; future librari- ans (M.L.S. students); and clients (fresh- man English students). The survey, which was conducted at a large public university in fall1985, compares male librarians' and male M.L.S. students' perceived images of male librarians to the actual image re- ported by the client population studied. METHODOLOGY A questionnaire was administered to classes and individuals at a university with a graduate library school and a large library system. It included semantic differ- ential scales constructed of opposite or near opposite word pairs separated by a scale of 1 to 5. 26 These descriptors were chosen from standard sources, including the California Psychological Inventory and Harrison Gough's Adjective Check List, with four additions. 27' 28 Agada reviews the use of such techniques in studying the personality of librarians. 29 Respondents were asked to circle the number that corresponded to their per- ception of the male librarian. A 1 repre- sents a strong relation to the word printed on the left; a 5, a strong relation to the word on the right; and a 3, the neutral point. Mter rating the twenty word pairs, respondents were asked to indicate which three descriptors among all of the word pairs they would use to describe best the male librarian and to supply any other de- scriptors they thought appropriate. Other questions asked freshman En- glish and M.L.S. students about the num- ber of times they used the library each quarter; their age, sex and class (fresh- man, sophomore, etc.); and the number of male librarians they knew. Librarians an- swered background questions regarding the number of their public service contact hours per week; age; sex; and number of years in the profession. Both forms en- couraged comments on any of these items. In addition to the questionnaire, male M.L.S. students and male librarians were given another version of the twenty word pairs and were asked to record how they believed male librarians were per- ceived by others. There Goes My Image 455 The distribution of the questionnaires was different for each group. Instructors of freshman English were sent a letter prior to the start of the fall quarter request- ing them to distribute the questionnaires to students in their classes. Of the forty freshman English instructors contacted, fifteen responded to the initial letter and thirteen agreed to participate. The partici- pating instructors were sent packets of questionnaires with a letter of apprecia- tion and a brief explanation to be read to their class prior to the distribution of the survey in_strument. The students were asked to complete the questionnaire out- side of the classroom and to return it to the instructor at the next class period. A pre- addressed envelope was provided. A total of fourteen class sections (one instructor taught two sections), averaging twenty- five students each, were surveyed. Of the 350 questionnaires distributed, 132 were returned for a 37.7 percent return rate. We do not know whether the opinions of the students who did not return, or were not given, the questionnaire differ in any way from those surveyed. Because a policy against giving out mail- ing lists of campus librarians was in effect, the investigators asked twenty library di- rectors to approve administration of the survey to librarians in their units; seven agreed. These librarians were given a questionnaire, a letter of instruction and a preaddressed return envelope. In all, forty-nine librarians were given question- naires; twenty-nine questionnaires were returned for a return rate of 60 percent. This sample represents approximately 19 percent of the librarians in the campus li- brary system. All participants in the survey were asked to return their completed question- naires by a date that fell within three weeks of their distribution. By then, 231 of 564 questionnaires had been returned for an overall response rate of 41 percent. RESULTS Descriptive (univariate and bivariate) results are presented below for each of the three groups surveyed: undergraduates, M.L.S. students, and working librarians. Responses across these groups are pre- 456 College & Research Libraries sented and their implications discussed. Freshman English Students There were no statistically significant differences in the responses of students who indicated that they knew at least one male librarian (sixty-three students) and those who knew none (sixty-nine stu- dents). Thus, the image we expected to find held by the latter group was, in fact, no different than the image of the group that had actual experience with male li- brarians. This suggests that experience with male librarians had little or no effect on the respondents' perceived image of them. Respondents chose descriptors among the twenty word pairs that they believed best described male librarians. The five descriptors most frequently chosen by freshman English students are listed in ta- ble 1. When these descriptors are examined separately by sex of respondent, they fall into a slightly different order. Both men and women undergraduates agree that or- ganized is the single best descriptor (39 per- cent of the male respondents and 37 per- cent of the females listed it in first place). Both sexes placed approachable, logical, and patient among their top five descriptors. But, for 34 percent of the female respon- dents, friendly was the second-place re- sponse, although it did not appear in the male undergraduate short list. Likewise, composed was in third place on the male list (20 percent of the male re- spondents picked that term) but did not make the top six terms picked by women undergraduate students. Approachable was chosen by 31 percent ·of female re- spondents but by only 18 percent of males. Male undergraduates see male li- brarians as organized and logical first, with other relatively neutral descriptors trailing far behind. On the whole, male librarians seem to evoke more emotionally positive responses from female than from male cli- ents. Respondents were also asked to choose their own words to describe male librari- ans. Sixty-one different responses were given, identifying thirty-one unique de- scriptors, six of which accounted for 59 September 1988 percent of all responses. These descrip- tors, not listed among the twenty original word pairs, included helpful (eleven re- sponses); intelligent (seven); knowledgeable (six); quiet (six); happy (three); and short (three). The last of these is presumed face- tious. We judged each original descriptor sup- plied by the respondent as either positive, negative, or neutral. If the word was thought to connote a good image of the male librarian, it was rated as positive. Ex- amples are helpful, intelligent, and kind. If the word was thought to connote a poor image, it was rated negative. Examples are wimpy, badly dressed, and chauvinistic. If the word was thought to connote neither a good nor a poor image, it was rated neu- tral. Examples are quiet, cautious, and too smart. Judged thusly, thirty-one descrip- tors were declared positive, twenty-one negative, and ten neutral. When sepa- rated by sex of respondent, the descrip- tors chosen by women were found to be overwhelmingly positive (twenty-one positive, four negative, four neutral). The descriptors chosen by men were some- what negative (ten positive, sixteen nega- tive, six neutral). This suggests that men are more likely than women to view male librarians in a negative light. M.L.S. Students The five descriptors of male librarians most popular among M.L.S. students are listed in table 2. When these results are partitioned by respondents' sex (there were fifty-one fe- male and nineteen male respondents, ap- proximating their proportions among the library school student body), the descrip- tor rankings are altered slightly. As was the case with the freshman English stu- dents, both the men and women in the group listed organized first (33 percent of women and 32 percent of men chose this descriptor). Women chose friendly almost as frequently as organized (31 percent), while men chose logical just as frequently (32 percent). This also follows the pattern seen among the freshman English stu- dents. A departure occurs, however, with the addition of the negative words unathletic There Goes My Image 457 TABLE 1 TOP SIX WORDS CHOSEN BY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO DESCRIBE MALE LIBRARIANS (n=132) Rank Descriptor 1 Organized 2 Approachable 3 Logical 4 Friendly 5 Patient 5 Serious No. of Responses 50 33 33 32 26 26 % Respondents Choosing 37.9 25.0 25.0 24.2 19.7 19.7 TABLE2 TOP FIVE WORDS CHOSEN BY M.L.S. STUDENTS TO DESCRIBE MALE LIBRARIANS (n=70) Rank Descriptor 1 Organized 2 Friendly 3 Logical 4 Unathletic 4 Serious (18 percent of women M.L.S. students chose this term); conservative (chosen by 16 percent of female respondents); and effem- inate (chosen by 16 percent of male respon- dents). This is perhaps due to M.L.S.- student respondents judging male librarians on a more personal basis than freshman English students, whose only exposure to them may be in a library set- ting. Whatever the reason, the more nega- tive descriptors came from librarians and prospective librarians. When looking at respondent-supplied descriptors overall and using the same standard, twenty-three were positive, eight were negative and twelve neutral. When controlling for sex of the respon- dent, women's responses were positive overall (fourteen positive, seven negative, seven neutral) but slightly less so than those of the freshman English women, , while men's responses were overwhelm- ingly positive (nine positive, one nega- tive, five neutral) compared to the overall negative response of freshman English men. This indicates that M.L.S. students of both sexes see the male librarian in a very positive light. Yet female M.L.S. stu- dents judge the male librarian less posi- tively than their freshman English coun- No . of Responses % Respondents Choosin~ 23 32.9 17 24.3 16 22.9 11 15.7 11 15.7 terparts, presumably because they know male librarians on a more personal basis and are more likely to find faults. Librarians Table 3lists the male librarians top five descriptors among the twenty word pairs. Again controlling for sex of respondent (twenty-two women, seven men), the re- sponses are similar to those of both the freshman English and M.L.S. students. Among the women in the group, friendly, approachable, outspoken, and liberal were equally popular, while men chose orga- nized, logical, leader, and unathletic. The emergence of the words outspoken, liberal, and leader suggests that the librarians are choosing words associated with profes- sional image and status. When asked to list other descriptors not included among the twenty word pairs, university librarian respondents supplied the following responses: intelligent (one male, three female respondents); selfish (four females); competent (three females); defensive (two females); gay (one male, one female). Judging these additional descriptors by the same standards as before, nine are positive, eight negative and two neutral. 458 College & Research Libraries September 1988 TABLE 3 TOP FIVE WORDS CHOSEN BY UNIVERSITY LIBRARIANS TO DESCRIBE MALE LIBRARIANS (n=29) Rank • 1 1 1 4 4 Descriptor Organized Logical Leader Friendly Liberal No. of Responses 6 6 6 5 5 % Respondents Choosing 20 .7 20.7 20.7 17.2 17.2 TABLE4 TOP FIVE WORDS CHOSEN BY M.L.S. STUDENTS AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIANS TO DESCRIBE MALE LIBRARIANS (n=99) Rank Descriptor 1 Organized 2 Friendly 2 Logical 4 Unathletic 5 Serious When partitioned by sex of respondent, women's responses were mixed (eight positive, eight negative, two neutral), while men's were very positive (two posi- tive, one neutral). This suggests that fe- male librarians are more critical of their male counterparts than the women in ei- ther of the other two groups. Again, this may be due to the fact that they have more personal contact with them than either of the other groups and thus are more likely to notice faults. Table 4 is a combination of two preced- ing tables. It brings together the responses of both M.L.S. students and librarians. These responses were combined to form a librarians' group for comparison with the client group of freshman English stu- dents. Comparisons of table 1 and table 4 con- trast the ways in which library profession- als (M.L.~. students and librarians) and ''The male librarian is seen no differ- ently by those in the library group than he is by those outside the group, i.e., the general undergraduate pub- lic." No . of Responses % Respondents Choosin!Z 29 29.3 22 22.2 22 22.2 14 14.1 13 13.1 the client population view the male librar- ian. Overall, the results are strikingly sim- ilar, with organized, logical, and friendly among the top four responses of both the library professionals (see table 4) and the undergraduate students (see table 1). This suggests that the male librarian is seen no differently by those in the library group than he is by those outside the group, i.e., the general undergraduate public. Table 5 summarizes and compares the polarity, i.e., positive-negative valence, of the descriptors chosen by each segment of the sample. One thing made clear by this table is the dissimilarity of M.L.S. stu- dents to the other two groups in terms of the polarity of responses: fully 28 percent of the library school student responses are neutral, compared to only 14 percent of the librarian and 16 percent of the under- graduate descriptors. It can be seen that this added neutrality originated in re- duced choices of negative descriptors: only 19 percent of the M.L.S. student choices are negative, compared to 33 per- cent of the undergraduate and 38 percent of the librarian choices. The investigators see two possible ex- planations for this: one is the tendency for young professionals in an advanced de- gree program to see themselves in a posi- There Goes My Image 459 TABLES TOP SIX WORDS CHOSEN BY ALL RESPONDENTS TO DESCRIBE MALE LIBRARIANS (n=231) Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 Descriptor Organized Logical Friendly Approachable Patient Serious No. of Responses 79 55 54 44 40 37 % Respondents Choosing 34.2 23.8 23.4 19.0 17.3 16.0 TABLE6 PERCENTAGE AND POLARITY OF RESPONDENT-SUPPLIED DESCRIPTORS, PARTITIONED BY SEX AND TYPE OF RESPONDENT Type of No. of Res~ond . Sex Res~ond . Undergraduates Male 61 Female 61 (All) 132 M.L.S. Male 51 Students Female 19 (All) 70 Librarians Male 7 Female 22 . {All} 29 tive light; this kind of adaptive defense mechanism was noted by David Sternberg in his study of chiropractic graduate students-a group that also faces a stream of negative and sti~matic messages from the general public. A second, and more serious, problem is a possible demand characteristic of the survey: M.L.S.- student respondents knew that the study was being conducted by one of their col- leagues and may have been less honest in their responses than they would have been if the questionnaire had originated from outside the university. Because these two explanations are not mutually exclu- sive, it may be that they both influenced the results in a manner that we cannot as- sess. The Twenty Word Pairs Table 6 lists the ratings of the twenty word pair responses between the three groups, but excludes those for which no statistical differences were found. For in- stance, we discovered no differences be- tween any combination of groups in their mean rating of the seven descriptor-pairs: No . of %Positive %Neutral %Ne~ative Descri~tors 31 19 50 32 72 14 14 29 51 16 33 61 60 33 7 15 50 25 25 28 53 28 19 43 67 33 0 3 42 11 42 18 48 14 38 21 ''organized-disorganized,'' ''antisocial- social,'' ''patient-impatient,'' '' pessimis- · tic-optimistic,'' ''logical-emotional,'' ''enthusiastic-blase,'' or ''sensitive- insensitive.'' These pairs also tended to score highest and lowest on the rating scales (see averages below). Elimination of the male M.L.S. stu- dents' and male librarians' input into the table causes no statistically significant change in the mean values. Likewise, there is no statistically significant differ- ence in comparisons of the ratings of male librarians' and male M.L.S. students' and those of the rest of the respondents- except in male librarians' projections of how others see them. This suggests that the population as a whole sees the male li- brarian no differently than male librarians see themselves, despite the male librari- ans' reluctance to believe this assertion. For the entire sample of respondents, the values (on a 5-point scale) range from a low of 2.13 for organized-disorganized to a high of 3.48 for antisocial-social. The ratings of male librarian respondents differ only slightly from the entire sample: Their 460 College & Research Libraries September 1988 TABLE 7 TESTS FOR LINEARITY AND SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE One Pole Descriptor (of Word Pair) _ Organized Submissive Meek Nervous Approachable Atliletic Effeminate Reserved Conservative Attractive Serious Follower Subdued Linearity p<0.03 p