Women in systems

Library Journal – The Gender Gap

We won’t be changing to help women. We will be doing it for our libraries, for our profession, and for ourselves. We need women in digital library positions. We need their unique perspective and their civilizing influence on the boys’ clubs that many library systems units, professional events, and online forums have become. But more than that, we simply need their talent.

Excellent article by Roy Tennant. Read the whole thing. I especially agree about the civilizing influence. It would go a long way towards eliminating the tedious culture of one-upmanship often endemic to technical communities. As long as we continue to have a geek culture mainly driven by the wants and desires of 20-something white males, we’re going to miss out on the true potential of Web 2.0 as an agent for far-reaching change. And in a profession like librarianship where women are by any measure the majority, the lack of women in systems librarianship just doesn’t make any sense at all.

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