I’m here, at work, rather than at the 2010 SLJ Leadership Summit and reading the tweets from friends and colleagues and inspirations from afar. I’m still not convinced that live-tweeting a conference (ok, ok, a summit) is a good thing, and I do feel vaguely voyeuristic when I read about their pre-travel preparations.
Maybe I’m overreacting, but the idea that we librarians are a tribe, or a people, bothers me.
Granted, I’ve been part of a tribe since before I was born so perhaps I’m not feeling the need to embrace a new one.
I also wonder about this obsession with reclaiming words. The “n-word” for example, or the “c-word”, have been used, abused, proudly hailed and a host of other in-betweens for years. It’s supposed to lessen the sting of the word, I guess. But “geek”?
Many of my friends are geeks (or nerds) and I’ll proudly include myself in their number, but really? We need geek swag? Call me a curmudgeon, say I don’t get it, whatever, but really, it’s just too much.
Venn Librarian 
2 thoughts on “Embrace Your Tribe (or not)”