The Image of Library Employees

There has been a lot of chatter lately about librarians and their image in the world today.
I did an informal survey among some email friends who are pretty much all over the place, and I found that almost no one thinks of the "stereotypical" librarian anymore.
Marian's day is past.
(Or even, alas the day of the librarian at our high school who shushed us all so often. She wore her hair up in a bun, she was pale, she wore unfashionable skirts and sensible shoes.)
Most weren't even concerned about the appearance of those who work in the library, only that they are knowledgeable and helpful. Those are the attributes most noted by my friends.
My customers often comment that the people who work in our library are nicer than the people in some other local libraries. I don't know about that, I have found people in most libraries to be nice and helpful. Our customers are more like friends and neighbors, though. Many of them come in often, many see us in other contexts around town, and they feel more connected to us and "their" library, I guess.
I was fairly stereotypical when I started at the library in 1999. I had very long hair, which was more convenient to put up in a bun. (And yes, I often stuck a pencil in it.) I wore some skirts, but usually slacks and a nice shirt. Always sensible shoes, though, I am on my feet a LOT at work.
These days I have short hair which looks kind of "choppy" and messy when done the way it is supposed to be. Everybody loves it, though. I still dress kind of frumpy, mostly because I am too cheap to invest in new clothing when I already have bills to pay, and because I am determined to lose a little more weight before I make any more such investments.

I bet some of our customers would be a bit surprised at the hobbies and non-library skills some of us have. For instance, I sing operatic arias for fun, Anne makes miniature scenes, Julie makes jewelery, Melodie is an excellent seamstress and plays in a bell choir, many of us are excellent cooks and bakers. (This is why our staff tends to be a bit on the chubby side, rather than thin as some stereotypical librarians are.)

Also, in our department, most of us are vastly overqualified for our jobs. As clerks, we are not required to have even a Bachelor's degree. Most of us have at least that, many have at least a year of coursework beyond that, and Anne has a Master's degree! We are where we are because we love our jobs. That is probably why our customers enjoy coming to our library. We are happy to be there, and it shows.