When I was in library school in the early 1990s, there was a trend to reject the job title of “librarian” in favor of hipper titles like “information professional”. Some library schools dropped the word “library” from their names, and many libraries became “learning resource centers”.
I think what drove that trend was the fact that librarianship had an old-fashioned image, and we wanted people to know that we used technology extensively and expertly in our work. We used computerized indexes to find information, and fired-up our modems to download documents from online networks. We were heavily into using the Internet, years before most people had even heard of it.
So being part of this new generation of tech-savvy information professionals, the idea of becoming a “librarian” wasn't very appealing. But on the other hand, the title “information professional” didn't really appeal to me either. It sounded like one of those terms that are created specifically to remake an image. I began to feel that we were turning our backs on a venerable title for an honorable profession, in favor of a transparent marketing gimmick.
So I decided to embrace the title of librarian, and do what I can to change people's perception of what a librarian is.
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