What Does a Librarian Look Like? My Experience at the 2005 SLA Conference in Toronto

by Laura Downs, 2005 Frost-Gershenfeld Travel Award recipient

As I deplaned into the Toronto International Airport I read the signs above the customs agents' that exclaimed Welcome SLA. I took another look at the people around me and wondered if I was surrounded by librarians.

As over 5,000 attendees converged on Canada's largest city for the 69th annual Special Librarian Association (SLA), June 3-8th was declared "Special Librarian Week" by the mayor of Toronto. Everywhere I went that week I couldn't help but wonder if the person next to me was a librarian. On the city sidewalks, in the hotel elevator, I was hoping my sideways glances weren't detected. I overheard a man tell a waiter the first night that he was here for a conference and was hoping to get through the week without looking like a librarian. Here was a man that seemed to have some idea of what a librarian looked like.

Throughout the conference I met professionals from all over the world; students, board members, researchers, vendors, scientists and librarians. I talked to a health sciences librarian, an archivist at Nike, a publisher from Moscow, the head librarian at the Congressional Research Service, law librarians from California, two software business partners, a librarian from the State Department, a student from Texas, a consultant from D.C., a few SLA executives from New York, a librarian at Boeing, a librarian from the EPA, a physicist, academic librarians, marketing and sales reps, and many, many more.

Looking back on the Association's year, Executive Director Janice Lachance said that the profession "is redesigning itself into a broader, more inclusive community." This didn't seem to be news among the varied group of people I met at the conference. SLA has always been a broad and inclusive community - it's what makes them special? Other big news was the opening of SLA's new Click University; SLA's online continuing education venue which offers professional credit via Syracuse University and gives professionals the opportunity to keep their skills sharpened. Excited attendees lined up at the opening party, showing their excitement for the concept, many muttering something along the lines of "it's about time."

At the conference SLAers were sharing new ways to get and distribute information, new gadgets and tool, old tips and tricks, swapping stories and conference swag, blogging about their favorite sessions, and just generally having a good time. If there was any one thread that seemed to run through these people that met under the auspices of "Special Librarians" it was that they were confident, excited about their profession, and friendly. Torontonians were probably wondering if the FAME (Fitness and Model Expo) conference attendees were dropping in a week early to share their sidewalk space and outdoor cafes. Ready for the changing landscape of the profession and positive about the possibilities, this educated and savvy group of librarians looked pretty sexy to me.

(September 2005)