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At a seminar today I was asked one of the most frustrating questions around:

“Why exactly do you need a degree to do that sort of stuff?”

It’s not the first time I’ve encountered skepticism of this sort. Neither archives nor records management is really a high profile position (except in those television shows where people break into filing cabinets in dark basements to find all the answers) but I’ve even seen people wondering why librarians need degrees. And the public tends to know what librarians are.

It’s also a great question to be asked, because it means I get to give an answer. I’m never sure if the answer I’m giving is good enough, though — especially when it starts from a place where I feel defensive.

It may be the sort of thing that I should prepare an elevator pitch for: one of those pat, 30-second answers that sums up everything and that I don’t need to scramble for when put on the spot.

What is the best way to deal with this sort of thing?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Professionalism.