Thursday, June 1, 2023

Librarian clothing rules

We were talking on Facebook about others handing down rules about what library workers should wear and this memory popped up. 

The library board of the library where I worked in Maryland handed down uniform requirements for working in the library and it included these: 

shirts and dresses must have sleeves. Can NOT be sleeveless. Nobody wants to look at floppy underarms. (I looked at our muscular arms and then remembered the board consisted of older men and women who probably had floppy arms.) 

The other thing I remember is that librarians must wear heels of at least 2 inches high. I immediately told my branch manager that I couldn't wait to see the male librarians wearing their two or three inch heels. HA! 

They then revised it to say that tie shoes were okay - for men. But if any women wanted to NOT wear heels, they had to get a doctor's note proving they had foot problems. My friends with bunions and other problems had been wearing sandals, nice sturdy ones. My own sneaker/ tennis/ walking shoes were because of my own foot problems. No shoes like that were allowed, so I had to jump from $60 expensive walking shoes to $200 sturdy/ supportive tie shoes. I did mention that I wanted the board to PAY for the extra expense they forced us to wear, but that was a no-go.

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