Approved-By:  "Leslie M. Haas" <LHAAS@KENTVM.BITNET>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.libref-l
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 08:54:57 EDT
From:         "Gary Klein (bear at heart)" <FAC2813@UOFT01.BITNET>
Subject:      RE: Hats

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Kathy Schultz asked a question about policies that libraries might have with
respect to employees who wear hats.

     Pardon my sarong, but what is the purpose of a dress code in the first
place?

     My question comes from the perspective of my last job, where as a Vice
President at a multi-billion dollar interstate bank I was expected to wear
a jacket & tie to work everyday of the work week, YET no one winced at the
fact that I never wore a dress jacket AFTER 5pm!  In fact, I often
did not wear my jacket when taking care of business almost anywhere in the
building, unless I was scheduled to attend a meeting in the Executive Offices.

     Even our President & 4 top executives had there suitcoats with them,
but never wore them while working at THEIR OWN DESKS!

     IF YOU ARE GOING TO RESPOND that a dress code helps to maintain a
professional image, then I will immediately point out, is there a dress code
for Sanitary Engineers?  If a banker is supposed to look like a banker while
on the way to work, how is a Garbage Collector or a Libraian supposed to look?
Do you want to mandate a certain look for Librarians?  Or do you grant people
a full range of academic freedoms?

     Here at the University of Toledo (a state unviersity) we have absolutely
no dress code!  Unless my attire is endangering someone, or physically
interfering with people's jobs, what I wear to work is my business!

     My experience from banking & here at the library shows me that you do
not necessarily get respect by power dressing.  Every suit that I own is
a tailored suit by Hart Schaffner Marx, which at the time I bought, each 1 cost
me one weeks' worth of GROSS wages!  Yet hundreds of employees from my own
bank could not believe that I was a Vice President, let alone a VP for almost
4 years.

     Meanwhile here at the library, whether I wear my rainbow suspenders or
black leather suspenders, my faded blue jeans or Levi Dockers, an ALA-MAGERT
t-shirt or a button down Arrow dress shirt, white Nike sneakers or my black
harness boots, people KNOW that I am a librarian, even though we do not
have any form of nametags!  Maybe the image that I project, even while eating
in the cafeteria, or in line at a supermarket may not look uniquely "Librarian
Like" to you, but people have stopped me in those settings, just to thank
me for helping them out at the UT Library!  Even to the point of introducing
me to their children, spouses and friends (while I was trying to get some
quick shopping done the night before a holiday).  AND REMEMBER my attire is
essentially the same as the 24,000 students on our campus.  So why did I
stand out in the middle of the checkout line on Thanksgiving Eve?

     Maybe they recognize me, not because I "look like a librarian", but
because I try to do a good job, and they sense it!

     So why should ANYONE care if an employee wears a hat or not?

     Unless I am mistaken, doesn't the freedom to wear what you want tie
in rather nicely with the freedom of information access?  As long as you
provide access to the info, the librarian does not care WHO is asking for
it.  Similarly, we as professionals should not be discriminating against
patrons because of their attire, so why should we discriminate against
ourselves?

     And if you want librarians to look like librarians, then aren't you
trying to perpetuate a stereotype?  Look at all the articles & letters to
the editors that have appeared in AMERICAN LIBRARIES, LIBRARY JOURNAL and
WILSON LIBRARY BULLETIN about Madison Avenue's and Hollywood's visual
portrayal of librarians.  I see those statements coming from people who want
to break the prevailing stereotypical image of librarians.  Do you think that
a dress code is going to do that?

     Are you also going to demand that I shave off my beard?  What about
my glasses?  My watch?  How about that knapsack which I carry my things in?
Then will you move onto removing the medallion which I wear on my neck, since
its religious significance MIGHT BE offensive to some people?  After all,
reference librarians are supposed to be politically neutral, AREN'T WE?

     WHERE DOES IT ALL STOP?

     Personally, I look up to the student at the University of California
at Berkeley, and give him a lot of credit.  The one who goes to class without
a single stitch of clothing on his body!  And who also addressed the
University's administration while stark naked.

     No one has ever claimed to be emotionally injured after seeing him on
campus, or bumping into him in the stairways or library stacks.  So why do
some people want to stop his nudity?

     If God wanted us to hide our bodies, then how come we were not born
already clothed?

     And if you retaliate by quoting from the Bible, then you ought to look
up the section in Levitticus that discusses the prohibition on "mixed fibers",
shaving, and wearing the color red!

     And if you are an atheist, you still have to worry about the Fashion
Police!

CODE 4 in progress at the Reference Desk.  Repeat Code 4 in progress!

(color of belt does not match up with your shoes)

"Not your average Leathered Librarian"
      * * * *          Gary Klein,   Business Librarian,  Univ of Toledo
       *   *                     P.O.Box 12650 / Toledo OH 43606
        * *            WORK: 419-537-2629             HOME: 419-243-2740
         *             BITNET:   fac2813@uoft01        FAX: 419-537-2726
  B4 t+ w- g s+ k             INTERNET: fac2813@uoft01.utoledo.edu