Let me get this straight: First Christopher Whittle says librarians are overpaid (note the spelling) because they're overqualified, then says everyone is underpaid except corporate CEOs. I don't need to belabor the error of his ill-informed assumptions about both librarians and barbers, since others have adroitly scolded him, but I would like to point out that this echoes a common misconception among both museum folks and archivists. Librarians are a much-maligned group, largely through ignorance. I find it interesting that, as we have progressed in our attitudes toward race, sex (or gender, if you prefer), and ethnicity, we seem to have transferred some of our biases toward occupational groups. We all seem to think that our occupational group deserves better pay than some other group. Pardon that aside. It's not directly relevant to my point, but I'll let it stand because I think it's worth saying. But I do think that museum people ought to be more attuned to the similarities in the work of curators, archivists, librarians, and teachers. Ignorance by members of one group about the nature of the work of the other groups fosters petty resentments, and it undermines the spirit of cooperation and collegiality which ought to prevail. I believe that each group has much to learn from the practices and traditions of the other groups. In my own work with photographs, I borrow freely from the traditions of museums, archives, and libraries, depending upon the varying kinds of access and usage which my collections require. Obviously, since photographs are collected by all three types of institutions, this works better than it might with other kinds of collections. Nevertheless, I often find that ignorance of library and archival procedures works to the detriment of other museum collections. I think many museum people would be wise to inform themselves about what librarians really do. Some years ago I hired a person for an archival project involving a large photographic collection. Her previous employment had been as a visual materials "librarian" at a historical society, and I had a hard time convincing our personnel (or human resources, if you prefer) rep that she was qualified for the job because, like Mr. Whittle, he protested that librarians just "shelve books." Regardless of her title, she was in fact highly qualified, knowledgeable, and experienced with the kind of work we had for her to do. But there was a fundamental misunderstanding (and I call it ignorance and prejudice) about what librarians do. I agree that it is, in many ways, comparable to what museum employees do. --David Haberstich