Which Is It? Clothes Make the (Wo)Man or Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover?

It seems like an odd thing to discuss on a blog about librarianship, but it turns out that how we dress as librarians is very important. Whether we're wearing sparkly, spangly, cute attire (as is appropriate for a children's librarian) or a three piece suit (more de rigueur for a law librarian), how we dress at work is more important than you think.

And I do think about it, probably more than I should. You see, back when I was a baby librarian, I looked much younger than I was. Up until a year after I started working at that college library, faculty and staff would occasionally assume that I was a student upon first meeting me. Further, the situation wasn't helped by the fact that we attracted a lot of non-traditional students. As a result, I dressed excruciatingly professionally everyday. Forget about wearing jeans, I didn't even wear slacks that often. The school was in semi-rural Southern Vermont, but rare was the day that found me wearing anything but high heels. I even dressed more upscale than my director on occasion. I was trying to make a point with my apparel: I wasn't a student and I didn't want anyone mistaking me for one.

I'm no longer mistaken for a student (I think the silvery-grey streaks in my dark brown hair are to blame), but I'm still trying to make a point with what I wear. Things have changed, though. I can't remember the last time I wore high heels. In fact, I practically  live in my Dansko clogs. I wear jeans at least once per week, sometimes more (caveat: I always wear my jeans with a fancy top). Heck, I've even been known to wear t-shirts with graphics to events I run for students. I dress much more casually than I'd ever have considered at my previous institution. The difference is that instead of trying to stand out, as I did back then, here I'm trying to blend in... with the faculty. The combination of jeans with a white, buttoned down shirt is worn so frequently in some academic departments that it could pass for a uniform. Sure, there are some members of the faculty who always come to work wearing suit coats and ties (I'm looking at you, Political Science), but that isn't the norm on my campus. I dress with the campus norm in mind.

The common factor between how I dressed as a brand new librarian and how I dress now is that my work clothes are always a reflection of campus culture. I've never actually liked the adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," because I do that everyday as a librarian. Instead, I believe that clothes do indeed make the man or woman, and I dress accordingly.

How about you? How do you pick what you wear to work (or school)?