My late step-father was in the IT field. He had one of those jobs that I never seemed to understand. He described it to me a couple of times, but it went right over my head.
In a little different way, we as librarians have a job that few understand. Part of this is because the work that we often do is behind the scenes. Instead, what most people see is library clerks working at the front desk, and mistakenly assume that everyone there is a librarian who spends all day checking out books. If the reference librarian is sitting at an adjoined desk, he or she may blend in seamlessly with clerical workers. What most people do not understand is that a librarian is part M.B.A., part scientist and part educator. It is an intellectual job as much as it is a task-oriented job.
Librarians tend to be less assuming people. We are dedicated to our job and others-focused. Perhaps we need to take a cue from Whitman and sound our "barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" a little more.
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