2003/01/01 by Gary P. Radford · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Comics and Graphic Narratives #Library Science and Administration #Media, Communication, and Education
paper · doi:10.1086/603375
openalex publication_date 2003/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/15
This article responds to Wayne Wiegand's argument that the library and information science field has failed in the past to extend its research and inquiry by exploring theoretical perspectives from disciplines outside the LIS field. It provides a brief introduction to the cultural studies approach using an application of the work of Stuart Hall to a popular and ever present cultural icon: the media stereotype of the female librarian. The film Party Girl is analyzed which contrasts two stereotypical images: the party girl and the female librarian. We argue that adopting a cultural studies approach to an analysis of a longstanding problematic image for LIS does allow a new vantage point for interpretation of media images of the profession. This wider focus allows a rethinking of the basic assumptions that have been made by the profession and acknowledges that there are potentially many different ways to see the same phenomenon, or perhaps to see phenomena for the first time, which were previously in our blind spots.