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Kathleen Low does not wear her hair in a bun except on Halloween
Two weeks into a new job as a reference librarian, Kathleen Low, ’79 MLIS, came to work on Halloween dressed in costume, as did the rest of the staff. Low wore a long-sleeved white blouse with high collar, a plaid, below-the-knee skirt, eminently sensible low-heeled shoes, her mother’s black glasses and her hair pulled back in a bun. Throughout the day, she waited for her colleagues to comment on her costume. None did. Why? Because they didn’t realize she was in costume.
Amazed by that in-house response, Low decided further investigation of her profession and its practitioners was in order. The book that resulted, Casanova Was a Librarian—A Light-Hearted Look at the Profession, was published last year by McFarland. Besides soundly debunking the myth that librarians are frumpily-dressed, “boring ladies who read all day and like telling people to be quiet,” Low’s research turned up a wealth of information about libraries and librarians, factual and anecdotal.
Turns out, lothario Giacomo Casanova is in very good company. Inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, philosophers David Hume and Immanuel Kant, FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, poet Philip Larkin and the Brothers Grimm also worked as librarians once upon a time.
Wary parents
Low grew up on a fruit farm in Gordon Valley, a rural area outside of Fairfield. “Since I had no friends within walking distance, I pretty much had to entertain myself,” she says, “so reading became one of my pleasures.”
Her mother drove Low and her sisters to the Solano County Library, a one-story building fronted by a “larger than life statue of Chief Solano,” as Low recalls. “It was awesome walking into the library and seeing row upon row of gorgeous, two-shelf wood bookcases filled with books we could check out.”
Low always checked out the maximum number of books, which she promptly read, earning her, by summer’s end, a reading certificate with a gold seal. “Very impressive—at least to me!” Low says. “To this day, I still have a couple of those certificates.”
Good memories aside, when Low shared her plans to become a librarian with her parents, she admits they “cringed. I’m sure they were hoping I would become a doctor, lawyer, engineer or some other highly paid professional. I’m sure the stereotypical image of an underpaid spinster ran through their minds.”
The Proposition 13 detour
Originally, Low intended to teach. But Proposition 13 went into effect shortly before she received her undergraduate degree in Spanish from UC Davis. “Schools were forced to lay off teachers and the near-future prospects for new teachers were abysmal,” she explains.
Since she enjoyed working as a student assistant at both the Shields Library and the King Hall School of Law Library at UC Davis, she postponed getting a teaching credential in favor of a library science degree. She assumed she’d work as a librarian for a few years, until the teaching market improved “Needless to say, I never did go into teaching,” she says—a decision she doesn’t in the least regret.
From SJSU to Sacramento
Of the three library science degree programs available in California in the late 1970s, Low chose San José State’s program because of its reputation for “going beyond just the academics of librarianship,” she says. “As in other programs across the country, students learned the theoretical, social and philosophical aspects of librarianship, but SJSU distinguished itself by also teaching the practical side. We were given the skills and knowledge necessary to hit the ground running as new librarians.”
Low returned to the UC Davis Law Library to work as a copy cataloger for three years. Next she coordinated online services at the Cooperative Library Agency for Systems and Services. Since 1984, she has been at the California State Library in Sacramento, serving as database specialist and outreach services manager before becoming library programs consultant in 1992, her current post.
Although the clientele and collections of academic, public and cooperative libraries vary, the similarities outnumber the differences, Low says. “Each is dedicated to providing quality library services and materials. And each faces the ongoing challenge of constantly reviewing, revising and maintaining those services and collections over time.”
The Internet factor
Over the years, libraries have transitioned from card catalogs to microfiche catalogs to online catalogs. But the biggest change, in Low’s opinion, has been brought about by the public’s widespread use of the Internet. Libraries and librarians now “have to go beyond helping people find information to teaching people how to find information online,” she says. Accurate, reliable information.
The author of two other books, Recruiting Library Staff (Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1999) and Legislative Reference Services and Sources (Haworth Press, 1994), Low is also the editor of The Roles of Reference Librarians: Today and Tomorrow (Haworth Press, 1996). She has published numerous articles on a variety of library-related topics, including updates on telecommunication devices for the deaf, copyright information, and online health resources.
She wrote “Keeping an Electronic Eye on Your Legislators: A Look at Online Bill Tracking Systems,“ published in Link-Up, because so often, she found, the majority of the public knew little or nothing about pending legislation. “Once a law has gone into effect,” she notes, “it’s too late to do anything about it.”
What the Internet can’t provide
Many assume the Internet is the be-all/end-all of information storage. “Simply not true,” Low says. “It’s a misconception that all information that can be found can be found on the Internet.”
Because of the economics involved, some older information may never be archived online. If you’re looking for the kinds of material not cataloged in the Business Index or The Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, you’ll still need the help of a good sleuth, a.k.a., your librarian.
Although accessing information from our homes and offices has its advantages, physical libraries offer other services and perks that can only be enjoyed and used onsite: educational and recreational programs for both children and adults, public-use computers, printed materials not available online, and meeting facilities, to name a few.
“Libraries are still a community place,” Low says—continuously reshaping and restructuring to provide that community with the information it desires.
—Kat Meads
This story originally appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of SJSU Washington Square magazine