Library profession. Librarian (profession): description, required education. Who is the profession suitable for?

Librarians store and disseminate knowledge, organize information, and create new, creative and technological ways to access it. Depending on the chosen specialty, librarians may be responsible for the work of public educational programsand doing research, teaching children to read, or managing library staff. From this article you will learn different factsrelated to the work of a librarian, including what it takes to become a representative of this wonderful profession.

Steps

Part 1

librarianship

  1. Know what librarianship is. IN this concept includes both the management of the library and the book fund, and the preservation, archiving and dissemination of information, the development of information technology and participation in research. Librarians can specialize in anything, and many can specialize in everything at once. The tasks of librarians include:

    • Cataloging books in a database
    • Creating taxonomies to organize data
    • Applying new technologies to renew the organization of old collections
    • Search for primary sources
    • Creation of student and public educational programs
    • Library management
    • Maintaining the library book fund up to date

  2. Know what librarians are like. Maybe it will be more interesting for you to work in a library for children? Or, for example, in a university library? Libraries are different, and therefore librarians, depending on their duties, are of the following types:

    • Public libraries are open to anyone who wants to read. They often run some kind of community education activities to develop literacy among adults and children. Such libraries are an important element of free access to information for people. The task of librarians in this case is to monitor the state of the book fund and update it in a timely manner, exchange experience with other libraries and conduct educational events.
    • School libraries are an important part of junior and high school... Their task is to give children the books necessary for their all-round development. School librarians help children develop a love of reading and are also involved in library management.
    • Libraries at the highest educational institutions maintain a significant collection of books that meet the needs of students. Often such educational libraries are specialized, they have separate thematic collections for certain areas of knowledge. The task of the librarian in this case is to compile lists of literature, catalog new materials, help students in the selection of literature for projects, archive special books and update the book fund. Often, an advanced degree is required to work in specialized libraries.

  3. Consider if you are ready to become a librarian. Many of those who like to read sometimes consider working as a librarian. However, this requires much more than a love of books. A good librarian not only craves knowledge, but also strives to organize all this in the best possible way, to preserve information and make it available to as many people as possible.

    Part 2

    educational requirements

    Part 3

    become a librarian

    1. Don't wait until the end of the training. You can get experience working in the library before graduating from the course, while studying. Try to get a job at your university library or, say, your local municipal library. Many libraries are glad to students - they can be shoved with routine work. For students, this is a great chance to feel the spirit of libraries and understand whether this is what they want.

      • Many libraries invite students to practice. Some pay to do it, some don't, but it's still a great opportunity to get real work experience. If the library of your educational institution does not offer anything of this kind, talk to the librarian, maybe he will help.
      • In many educational institutions there are student library associations. Join one of them!
      • Volunteer and help libraries. Well, or earn extra money there from time to time, do an internship, and so on. In general, use every opportunity to plunge into the world of libraries and librarianship. Be enthusiastic, ask questions, and don't get lost after finishing your practice!

    2. Find ways to make your resume more impressive. Unfortunately, library budgets are being cut, and therefore, becoming a librarian has to work hard (at least in the US). Experience in the library and certificates will definitely help you with this.

      • Don't emphasize on your resume that you love books. 9 out of 10 job seekers focus on this! You need some bigger trump cards, so focus on the qualities that make you a born librarian!
      • Always tweak and modify your resume to match the job you are applying for. Emphasize your qualities that are suitable for work in a particular place. And most importantly, don't forget to show your enthusiasm!
      • Dating is a useful thing. If your fellow librarians know that you are looking for a job in this profile, then there is every chance that they will be able to help you.

The librarian profession is considered ancient. It appeared along with the first handwritten books. However, over the centuries, the responsibilities of such professionals have changed. Today the librarian is professional worker a library that processes, organizes, manages the collection and provides information material to its visitors.

A feature of the librarian profession can be considered the fact that it is impossible to do without such employees even in the age of technological progress. No machine is yet capable of replacing a specialist in the field of popular science, fiction and special literature. But unfortunately, the salaries of such workers are low, and the demand for the profession of a librarian is low in the labor market.

The duties of a library employee include:

  • serving visitors, filling out their subscriptions. The librarian selects and gives out the necessary books for reading at home or in the reading room;
  • monitor the safety of the library fund, complete it;
  • placing orders, purchasing new books;
  • processing of received literature;
  • compilation of catalogs;
  • organization of literary conferences, thematic seminars, discussions and exhibitions of newspapers, magazines, books.

It should be noted that the work of librarians is not limited to books only. Modern specialists keep up with progress and use more and more new information Technology... Today librarians work with various information carriers, with audio and video materials, by email, electronic catalogs. They skillfully use computers, office equipment and the Internet, create databases and electronic presentations.

In connection with such changes in the librarian profession, new specializations have appeared, such as manager information systems, librarian-technologist and database administrator.

Children get acquainted with representatives of this profession at school. The school librarian has a great responsibility. This sensitive specialist can advise the child on an interesting book, thereby instilling an interest in reading. In this case, an employee of the school library must take into account the age characteristics of children. A librarian can be safely called an intermediary between a person and a book.

Some people mistakenly believe that this profession is very simple and does not require special skills. But this is far from the case. Such work requires a specialist to be able to analyze and synthesize information, to process a huge amount of it.

This profession is highly respected, as evidenced by the annual competition "The Best Librarian". It is attended by professional library staff. This competition not only enhances the prestige of the profession of librarians, but also pushes specialists to self-improvement and the desire to improve their qualifications.

Of course, the librarian profession has its pros and cons. The ability to constantly learn and communicate with various interesting people are the advantages of this type of activity. But it upsets the low wage and a noticeable drop in public interest in reading.

Personal qualities

The main qualities of a librarian are attentiveness, perseverance, stress resistance, goodwill. People in this profession need to have an excellent memory, patience and not be afraid of monotonous work.

Education (What do you need to know?)

A professional librarian not only gives out the required literature to readers, but also talks with them, offers his help in choosing. At the same time, the librarian must know the content of many books of different orientations, be able to quickly navigate in fiction, popular science and special literature, and master the methodology for conducting conversations with visitors. For such work, one should graduate from a library technical school or study librarianship at an institute.

Place of work and career

Representatives of this profession work in the libraries of universities, schools, various enterprises, in state and departmental libraries. Probability career growth for such employees is small. In the presence of higher education a librarian can become the head of a department or an entire library.

Although more and more people are using electronic media to read books, the interest in the truly printed word has not faded at all. Each, even the smallest city, has its own library serving several thousand readers. Librarians run the vast intellectual book depositories.

From the outside, it may seem that all the work of a library employee is to write out forms and fill out registration forms. In fact, this is far from the case. A librarian is a qualified specialist who must be well versed in an assortment of books, be a philologist and a little - a historian.

Obligations of the librarian

The librarian is directly involved in the formation of the book fund, orders new copies of books, analyzes and monitors the emergence of new literary talents. At the same time, his duties also include the repair of old books (which can sometimes be antique and even have historical significance), write-off of completely unusable ones. After receiving new ones, the librarian sorts them and catalogs them.

The specialist must know the standards for storing books, if possible ensure the necessary conditions for long-term operation. Some antiques require special conditions increased caution.

Without a doubt, the main requirement for a bibliologist is an excellent knowledge of literature in all its diversity and huge amount.

Moreover, the librarian should be aware of not only the books of the direction that interests him, but also all the others that readers may ask about. A specialist will often have to prompt people to work based on their preferences, wishes and level of intellectual development.

The ability to work with a computer is a must for a modern library worker. In most establishments, all readers' forms and catalogs have long been computerized, so a person who is far from understanding the simplest programs will find it difficult to adapt to this process.

Is it difficult to work as a librarian

The profession of a librarian is specific and requires a certain character from a person. If he fanatically loves books, is erudite, accurate and attentive, then such a specialist will really be "in his place."

Nevertheless, in the work of a bibliologist there are some negative pointsthat can escalate into complexity: an abundance of paperwork, which is tiring and requires a high level of concentration, as well as constant communication with people. Of course, there are different kinds of visitors, and some of them can make you nervous.

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Pros and cons of being a librarian

Benefits:

  • the profession of bibliologist is by no means boring. The specialist can work in parallel scientific activities, studying historical works, participating in the organization of exhibitions and excursions;
  • communication mainly with interesting educated people;
  • suitable work for those who like to read.

Disadvantages:

  • low salary;
  • in modern world the relevance of paper books is gradually declining. The future of the profession is not clear.

It is difficult to call the librarian profession a careerist one, but nevertheless there are certain rungs of the ladder here. The pinnacle of a career is the head of the library, if the institution is large enough, then the head of the department is one of the intermediate options. In addition, there are many other development options: the head of a media library, a thematic publication, an organizer of an educational project.

There is one dangerous moment in the profession of a librarian - a stop to professional development. Routine work can make the most diligent person bored. It is worth remembering this, and not be satisfied with what has already been achieved.

September 1 - the beginning of the school year. Students and schoolchildren in search of the necessary literature go to libraries. And librarians, in turn, rush to class. This is because people who do not have a specialized education often come to work in Russian libraries, driven by one feeling - the love of books. But you can't last long on feelings alone, so you have to go to study. Those RSL employees who have decided to seriously and for a long time to connect their lives with the library come to the Higher Library Courses at the Postgraduate and Additional vocational education RSL. And each of them has its own history of entering the profession.

Three years ago, Candidate of Philology Smith Sengupta graduated from the Higher Library Courses at the RSL. “I have been working in the library for over 15 years. And I got here in the following way. There was an exhibition at the Center for Oriental Literature organized by the Bangladesh Embassy. I worked for her as a translator for the Ambassador. And on that day I was told that the funds contain books in Bengali (this is my native language), but there is no specialist to work with him. They offered to do them. I agreed and now, I still work here. " Since then, Smith has managed to obtain a residence permit in Russia and a specialized library education. “My boss, Maria Emelyanovna, who always helped and guided me, said: 'Smita, if you want to continue working in the library, go to study.' And I went along with my colleague. " The knowledge gained was useful in fulfilling non-standard readers' requests, when you need to find some rare book or a work of a little-known author. “If earlier I relied on my logical thinking, now I know exactly the search methodology - how and what is faster and easier to find. Thanks to the courses for that. "

Olya Izhbulatova, an employee of the Center for Eastern Literature of the Russian State Library, came to the library out of her love for the Chinese language and Chinese literature.

“I recently went down to our storage and looked at what mountains of Chinese books lie there. It will take at least a year or two to disassemble this. Frankly, my hands are itching. " Olya graduated from ISSA (Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University named after Lomonosov), she has been working at the Russian State Library for a year and a half, and as a cataloguer of the CVL - a month and a half. This year I entered the Higher Library Courses. From training he wants to gain knowledge about the preservation of documents, restoration and about the LBC tables. “We have very valuable publications and we need to understand how to handle them and keep them in proper conditions. In the future, I would like to deepen my knowledge of the Chinese language and learn other related languages. I want to become a first-class specialist. "

The specifics of library activities are such that it is quite difficult to work here without specialized education, and even more so to advance in career ladder... That is why a training center has been created in the Russian State Library, where everyone can learn the intricacies of the library profession, improve their qualifications or even advance science by enrolling in graduate school and defending a candidate's or even doctoral dissertation. It is to this center that Olya will go to study on September 6. She will be accompanied by about twenty more people - employees of the RSL and other Moscow libraries.

An interesting fact - initially, the profession of a librarian was taught only at the RSL. IN 1920s Various ideas for training the staff of the then State Rumyantsev Museum of library specialty began to emerge and were applied in practice, the foundations of course training and retraining were laid, teaching methods were developed. Already in 1924, the Higher Library Courses were created. And in 1930 - the Moscow Library Institute (later renamed the Moscow University of Culture and Art).

“I got to the library by accident. On a clear October day, walking along Mokhovaya, I saw a sign of the magazine "Library Business" on the house. Since at that time I was out of work, I decided to just look into the HR department of the RSL and find out if they have any vacancies. They offered to go to the department of library services in the reading room of new acquisitions. I easily agreed. And now I have been working there for five years already. " This is the story of Valentina Korenok, who, after her accidental meeting with the library, decided not only to stay, but also to master the profession. She graduated from higher library courses two years ago. “Thanks to my studies, I began to treat my work more competently and better understand the specifics of our library as a whole.”

You can get a diploma of higher library education if you go to study at a specialized university. Here is the story of the deputy head The training center postgraduate and additional professional education of the RSL Lidia Sergeevna Martynova. “My relative, Vasily Vasilyevich Serov, a prominent scientist, was the Deputy Minister of Culture under Demichev. He graduated from the Moscow Library Institute. And when I was in the 10th grade, he brought me to this university, led me through the classrooms. So I began to study librarianship. Graduated from graduate school. And, further, she went to work at the Patent and Technical Library. In 1968, when the research department was opened, she came to the RSL. "

Now the most popular among library staff are short-term courses in information and computer technologies (specializations "Microsoft Office XP", "Library and Information Technologies", "Library and Information Activities"). In 2010, they were visited by about 220 people. Considering the course taken by the Government of the Russian Federation to computerize the library environment, librarians are simply obliged to master the basic programs and services.

At the same time, there is a reverse trend. To work in the RSL, IT specialists are involved without library education. And they, in turn, need to attend specialized courses. Only in this way will these two groups, sometimes more like two warring camps, be able to build a constructive dialogue and a productive joint work over the development of the Russian library system.

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The librarian is a very ancient profession that has existed for over four thousand years. The origin of this type of activity is attributed to the Sumerian culture, because they were the first to use catalogs made of clay.

The first librarians of antiquity are scribes who collected tablets from clay, a very long time ago, several thousand years ago, even before our era. This profession used to be considered an exclusively masculine craft. There are references to librarians who worked in Egypt at the court of the Ptolemies.

Librarian profession - description

Now, in our time, a modern librarian must know, understand and understand programs and technologies. Must own a computer and equipment for recording and reproducing sound and images.
The essence of the work is not only the reception and delivery of books. He protects books as a librarian, he knows both the secrets of the classification and arrangement of books, and the rules for compiling reference books and catalogs. Paper is a very fast-wearing material, the library worker knows the secrets in what conditions to store a book, and how to look after it.

A librarian is a specialist who lends books, classifies publications, monitors the safety of funds and their replenishment, etc. Libraries are usually state institutions... Libraries exist in schools, in secondary and higher educational institutions, in enterprises, etc.

Cons of being a librarian

Librarians work full time. Therefore, there is no opportunity to earn money somewhere. There is a certain career growth. Some specialists are involved in serving readers. More experienced staff - are engaged in the formation of a fund and ordering new literature. This profession has its drawbacks. The salaries of library workers are often low. Over time, the salary increases little. There is no particular career development in this profession. Some of the employees are engaged in science.

Librarian profession - duties

An ordinary reader's idea of \u200b\u200bthe work of a librarian is often reduced to the obligation to lend books. But this is far from the case. The main work, more often than not, remains unnoticed.

Employees are engaged in:

  • ordering new literature,
  • arrangement of books,
  • creation of bibliographic products,
  • management and marketing issues,
  • fund development,
  • cataloging and organizing literature,
  • and other activities.

In the West, the profession of a librarian is quite relevant.

Where to get the profession of a librarian

To be a specialist - a librarian with a specialized diploma, you need to graduate from a library technical school, or enter the relevant faculty at the institute. In order to get a job in this specialty, it is not necessary to have a specialized education. Often, a lot of knowledge is acquired by employees in the process.

How to find a job

To search for job offers, you can use job site, newspapers or other sources. Today, job sites have become widespread. Thanks to such services, you can get acquainted with the numerous job offers.

Job portals are equipped with special tools for more convenient job search. Vacancies can be sorted by city or professional field, etc.

In addition to job search portals, job seekers use newspapers or magazines. There are tons of newspapers that contain job offers.

In addition to all of the above methods, it is still possible to contact the employment center. it state organization, which provides employment services under certain conditions. For more detailed information, please contact the territorial department of the CPC.

 

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