In 1798, the librarian for the College of William and Mary earned 10£ per annum. One wonders what he did to earn that princely sum. In 1925, the Librarian of Congress reported that a salary of $6000 per year was far too meager to retain a qualified Science Librarian. What did qualified mean in 1925? In 2006, a local DC University is advertising for a Liaison and Outreach Librarian. What do you think this person would do? No doubt the images of each of professionals would include books, because through out the ages, librarians have been primarily associated with books. It’s an interesting association, because if one were to examine the main heading of “Books” in the Library of Congress Subject Headings, the only association that term has with librarians is the very broad related term of “Library materials.” Similarly, while the term “Librarians” offers many narrower “types” of librarians -- Academic, Acquisitions, Christian, Gay, Map, Systems, and so on – nowhere is the term “Books” identified as a related term. The association of librarians with books is probably caused by what people see when they enter what is most likely their public library. They see people behind the circulation desks, people restacking the shelves, people pushing carts filled with books, and the reference librarians. In reality, all but the last of those jobs are often staffed by students and part-time workers that have no MLS, nor intend to make librarianship their future profession. What the public doesn’t see and what the LCSH doesn’t reflect are the true tasks of a librarian, and most of these do not center on books. In this presentation, two librarians, a government research librarian and a cataloger and database designer, will discuss the gap between public perception, indexing, and media. These three categories provide illustrations of how our profession may have changed appearances, but that it has not changed in essence – providing a stable and reliable point of access to a morass of information contained in many forms.