My career as a librarian is young in age, but in that short time, I’ve observed that there are certain issues that seem to come up over and over again.  Something that I learned pretty quickly is that librarians are deeply concerned with justifying their existence and importance.  And I can understand this impulse, especially in the academic setting.  People from outside the library think that just because they use a library that they know how to run one, or that they can advise librarians on how to do their job.  So I often find myself struggling for tactful way to insist that well, actually, I do know what I’m doing, and no, you don’t, and no, we won’t do a library scavenger hunt for your students.

So, I’m wondering if this impulse to self-justify and self-legitimize is the motivation behind IFLA’s creation of a logo for information literacy.   Somehow having an official logo for information literacy is supposed to make us more official?  More important?  Putting that image on our website or on a LibGuide or a handout is supposed to accomplish…what?

Maybe I’m missing something, and I’m open to being persuaded otherwise, but this kind of stuff reminds me of the hand-wringing over the image of the librarian, and how it’s so terrible that the image of the librarian in popular culture is so inaccurate or misleading or offensive.  I really can’t work up the energy to worry too much that people think librarians are stodgy and boring and shushy or sexy or sassy or prone to wearing cardigans.  I’d rather just do my job really well and let that help people form an opinion of what a librarian is like.

Similarly, I’d rather just be a really good instruction librarian who cares about information literacy.  I’d rather show my commitment to information literacy through doing actual work and actual instruction and rigorous assessment and reflection.  To me, this says a lot more than a logo.