librarianship was not, in the beginning, considered a respectable occupation for women, as many felt that "libraries often housed 'the corrupter portions of the polite literature' and therefore the presence of women would cause 'frequent embarrassment to modest men.'" this opposition was overcome, and in 1887, the first president of the american library association reportedly addressed a group of librarians, praising, in his speech, female librarians (who received lower salaries than their male counterparts) because they "soften our atmosphere, they lighten our labour, they are equal to our work, and for the money they cost - they are infinitely better than equivalent salary will produce in the other sex."


(i'm getting all of this out of sarah's "library book.")