To squee or not to squee?! That is the question. I’ve been getting some criticism over the past few weeks about my stated dislike of gushing praise for librarian luminaries such as Lorcan Dempsey. This was in reaction to some reports by conference goers at the recent Computers in Libraries conference, made in a previous post entitled “Thoughts on reports from conferences.” Dorothea Salo of Caveat Lector started it all by using two words in one of her posts on the conference that I had never heard before: ‘fangirl’ and ‘squee.’ I recently looked up the definition of ‘squee’ (the meaning of ‘fangirl’ is pretty clear) and here what I found via Answers.com (which in turn derives this from Wikipedia):

Squee can be an exclamation, or interjection, of excited happiness or surprise, especially when referring to fangirls, or be a squeal of glee over something incredibly cute.

In a series of comments made in response to that previous post, I made the point that after reviewing my criticism the day after, I concluded that I had been too harsh. However I stuck to my dislike both of the term and the implied adoration of well known librarians, and made it clear that this was just my opinion. Fortunately Dorothea took no offense, for which I am thankful, although she later wrote in her blog that we in librarianship need to be unafraid of expressing admiration and/or delight over meeting up with other librarians whom we’ve admired from afar.

A few others have picked up on this thread (e.g. see a post at Random Access Mazar and one at Solvitur ambulando). There is a sense in which my initial criticism has been taken as a “hit” against showing general enthusiasm for the profession. My interpretation of what I’ve read from others on this issue is that we should not shy away from celebrating and showing excitement over meeting and interacting with highly respected colleagues. In fact, it is felt that we should be doing more of this, especially to generate excitement for and interest in the profession among those who are in library school and/or newly begun in their librarian careers.

I’ve thought about this issue a lot during the past few weeks. It has been nearly fifteen years since I graduated from library school. I am already so out of touch? So jaded and cynical? I well recall the first professional conference I ever attended. It was in June of 1991 at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX, and I was attending the 6th annual NASIG conference as one of that year’s fortunate NASIG Student Grant winners. One of the highlights of the conference, for me, was the relevant conference program that included speakers whom I had read about such as Charles W. Bailey, Jr. at the University of Houston, a professor at SLAIS at the University of British Columbia whose name escapes me and who is now retired, etc. I thought it was cool to see such people “in the flesh.”

But did I ‘squee’ over them? The answer is a definite NO. And I still don’t ‘squee’ over highly respected colleagues whom I may see here or there at a conference. Why? More importantly, what do I have against others ‘squeeing’ over famous colleagues? By being critical of this issue, am I against showing enthusiasm for librarianship? Absolutely not. Simply put, I am VERY enthusiastic about being a librarian and about the profession as a whole. I think enthusiasm and excitement are great, and I like being around people who get enthusiastic and excited about librarianship. My problem with ‘squee’ is that it may focus too much on a person or persons instead of on ideas, on proposals, on concepts and dreams about librarianship. Let’s get excited and show it, but let it be over issues, not persons. The cult of person that has grown increasingly strong in this day and age is one for which I have an abhorrence because I think it is misleading and could even be dangerous. We can be so taken up by a famous colleague’s person that we are blind to her or his faults, missteps, and deviations. We can be (and often are) led astray by charisma and personality.

It may be thought that I am digging a little too deep, truly exaggerating, except that there is a prime example of this very thing in our profession today. I will not name names or even hints but the situation exists (thankfully for not much longer). This person has legions of fans and adoration has been lavished upon this individual. For what? Largely because of charisma and because of a past track record of having done or participated in something famous.

So to get back to the question posed at the outset: To squee or not to squee? For me the answer will remain a resounding NO.