Marian the Librarian (#21)
Do you have a question for Marian? Send it to the editor, Deanna Briggs, at dbriggs@copyright.com to forward to Marian.

Dear Marian,

When does helpful advice become harmful? As a manager who frequently gives career advice, I’ve been following the lawsuit a librarian brought against Harvard University with interest. I took her manager’s words, which appeared in the press many times, as an offer of constructive career advice, not as words meant to harm. I think she told the librarian wearing sexy clothing to work was a deterrent to prospective managers. Our corporate library employs several library students and has entry-level positions, so we frequently lose workers to better jobs elsewhere. I see part of my role here as being a mentor to these students and employees; and, I often do what I can to help them on the job market, including advising them on what to wear and how to behave, especially during job interviews. Am I out of line when I do so? Could my actions lead to a lawsuit?

Concerned Adviser

Dear Concerned Adviser,

Giving advice about anything can be tricky, as some people will welcome it and others might feel offended by it. No matter how good some advice might seem and no matter how we try to give it in a friendly manner, someone might interpret it in a negative fashion.

Perhaps you should find out from the people you mentor how much and what kind of advice they would like you to give them. That might help you gauge whether you are out of line.

If you’ve been offering advice for a long time and no one has been bothered by it, maybe you already have a good method of sharing wisdom without offending others. Of course, there’s always a first time for everything, isn’t there?

Part of the reason why the librarian sued Harvard is because she felt like she was being discriminated against. I don’t think she sued specifically because of what her manager said. You may not have as much to worry about on those grounds as you think. If you are truly concerned about it, you might want to talk to a lawyer. Perhaps there’s one available through your company.

From one adviser to another,
Marian

Dear Marian,

I hate the stereotype of our profession and I dress in a manner to combat it. Learning about the librarian who wasn’t promoted because her colleagues thought she dressed too sexy and was too pretty discourages me. How can we fight against our stereotype when it seems that employers only want to hire people who look like stereotypical librarians?

Breaking the Stereotype Every Chance I Get

Dear Breaking the Stereotype Every Chance I Get,

Sometimes it might appear that the people in charge reinforce the librarian stereotype, even if it’s just inadvertently. The way someone dresses says a lot about her or him as a person. Potential employers often draw conclusions from that during a job interview. One of the interview tricks is to dress quite well for an interview and in a manner that’s appropriate to the work environment. Managers might consider how someone dresses when giving out promotions. But there are many different work environments out there and librarians wear a range of styles on the job.

How employees look to customers says a lot about an environment, too. It’s reasonable for managers to expect their employees to dress in a manner appropriate for public interaction and to represent the workplace to the public. What that means exactly can be an item of debate across the profession.

Changing the stereotype and the hiring practices that seem to reinforce the stereotype will take quite a bit of work. There are places for librarians who don’t meet the stereotype, though, and more of those might evolve if the profession changes.

Good luck,
Marian

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