library profession. Librarian (profession): description, required education. Who suits the profession

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 both the work of public educational programs, and conducting research, teaching children to read or managing library staff. From this article you will learn different facts related 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. AT given concept includes both the management of the library and the book fund, as well as the preservation, archiving and dissemination of information, the development of information technology and participation in research. Librarians can specialize in anything, and many specialize in everything at once. The tasks of librarians include:

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

  2. Know what librarians are like. Maybe you would be more interested in working in a library for children? Or, for example, in the 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. Often they conduct some kind of public educational activities with the aim of developing 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 activities.
    • School libraries are an important part of the junior and high school. Their task is to give children the books necessary for their comprehensive development. School librarians help children develop a love of reading and are also responsible for running the library.
    • Libraries in higher educational institutions keep serious collections of books that meet the needs of students. Often such educational libraries are specialized, have separate thematic collections for certain areas of knowledge. The task of the librarian in this case is to compile lists of references, catalog new materials, help students in the selection of literature for projects, archive special books and update the book fund. Often, a degree is required to work in specialized libraries.

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

    Part 2

    educational requirements

    Part 3

    becoming a librarian

    1. Don't wait for the end of the course. You can get experience in the library even before graduation from the course, during your studies. Try to get a job at your university library or, say, at your local municipal library. Many libraries welcome students - you can push routine work onto them. For students, this is a great chance to feel the spirit of libraries and understand whether this is the soul.

      • Many libraries invite students to practice. Some pay for it, some don't, but it's still a great opportunity to get some real work experience. If the library of your educational institution does not offer anything like this, talk to the librarian, maybe he will help.
      • In many educational institutions student library associations. Join one of them!
      • Become a 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 the practice is over!

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

      • It is not necessary to make an emphasis on the fact that you love books in your resume. 9 out of 10 applicants focus on this! You need bigger cards, so focus on the qualities that make you a born librarian!
      • Always tailor and modify your resume for the job you are applying for. Focus on your qualities that are suitable for work in a particular place. And, most importantly, do not forget to show enthusiasm!
      • Dating is a useful thing. If your familiar 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 profession of a librarian is considered ancient. It appeared along with the first handwritten books. However, over the course of several centuries, the duties of such specialists have changed. Today the librarian is professional worker libraries, which processes, organizes, manages the fund and provides information material to its visitors.

A feature of the profession of a librarian can be considered the fact that it is impossible to do without such employees even in the age of technological progress. Not a single machine is yet able to replace a specialist in the field of popular science, fiction and special literature. But unfortunately, the salary of such workers is small, and the demand for the profession of a librarian in the labor market is low.

Librarian responsibilities 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 incoming literature;
  • cataloging;
  • 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. Modern specialists do not lag behind progress and use all new technologies in their work. Information Technology. Today, librarians work with various information media, with audio and video materials, email, electronic catalogues. They skillfully use computers, office equipment and the Internet, create databases and electronic presentations.

In connection with such changes in the profession of a librarian, new specializations have appeared, such as a 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 in him an interest in reading. At the same time, the school librarian must take into account the age characteristics of children. A librarian can safely be called an intermediary between a person and a book.

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

This profession is very respected, as evidenced by the annual competition "The Best Librarian". It takes part professional staff libraries. This competition not only raises the prestige of the profession of librarians, but also encourages specialists to self-improvement and the desire to improve their skills.

Of course, being a librarian has its pros and cons. The ability to constantly learn and communicate with different interesting people are the advantages of this type of activity. But upsetting low wage and a marked decline in the population's interest in reading.

Personal qualities

The main qualities of a librarian are attentiveness, perseverance, stress resistance, goodwill. People of 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 readers the required literature, but also talks with them, offers his help in choosing. At the same time, the librarian must know the content of many books of various kinds, be able to quickly navigate in fiction, popular science and specialized 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 development such employees are small. In the presence of higher education the librarian can become the head of a department or the entire library.

Although more and more people use electronic media to read books, interest in the true printed word does not fade at all. Each, even the smallest city, has its own library serving several thousand readers. Librarians are in charge of vast intellectual book depositories.

From the outside, it may seem that all the work of a librarian is to issue 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 the range of books, be a philologist and a bit of a historian.

Responsibilities of a 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), and write off completely unusable ones. After receiving new ones, the librarian sorts them and catalogs them.

The specialist must know the rules for storing books, if possible, ensure the necessary conditions for long term use. Some antique pieces 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 quantity.

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

Computer skills are required for modern worker libraries. In most establishments, all readers' forms and catalogs have long been computerized, so it will be difficult for a person who is far from understanding the simplest programs to adapt to this process.

Is it hard to be a librarian?

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

However, in the work of a bibliologist there are some negative points, which can develop into difficulties: an abundance of clerical work, which is tiring and requires a high level of concentration, as well as constant communication with people. Of course, visitors are different, and some of them can make you nervous.

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Pros and cons of being a librarian

Advantages:

  • The profession of a bookkeeper is by no means boring. The specialist can work in parallel scientific activity, the study of historical works, participate in the organization of exhibitions and excursions;
  • communication mainly with interesting educated people;
  • suitable work for lovers of reading.

Flaws:

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

The profession of a librarian can hardly be called a careerist, but still there are certain steps on the ladder. The top of the 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 options for development: 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 - stop professional development. Routine work can make the most assiduous person bored. It is worth remembering this, and not stop there.

September 1 - the beginning of the school year. Students and schoolchildren go to libraries in search of necessary literature. And the 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 - a love of books. But you won’t last long on feelings alone, so you have to go to study. Those employees of the RSL who have decided to seriously and for a long time connect their lives with the library come to the Higher Library Courses at the Training Center for Postgraduate and Additional vocational education RSL. And each of them has its own history of entry into the profession.

Three years ago, Ph.D. in Philology Smita 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 organized by the Embassy of Bangladesh at the Center for Oriental Literature. I worked for her as an interpreter for the Ambassador. And on that day, I was told that the funds kept books in Bengali (this is my native language), but there was no specialist to work with it. They offered to do it. I agreed and now, I still work here. ” Since then, Smita 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 study.” And I went with my colleague.” The acquired knowledge came in handy when fulfilling non-standard requests from readers, when you need to find some rare book or work by 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. Thank you for this course."

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

“I recently went down to our storage, looked at what mountains of Chinese books are there. It will take at least a year or two to sort it out. To be honest, my hands itch.” Olya graduated from ISSA (Institute of Asian and African Countries at Lomonosov Moscow State University), has been working at the RSL for a year and a half, and as a cataloger at the Central All-Russian Laboratory for a month and a half. This year I entered the Higher Library Courses. From the training he wants to gain knowledge about the safety of documents, restoration and about the LBC tables. “We have very valuable publications and we need to understand how to handle and maintain them in proper conditions. In the future, I would like to deepen my knowledge Chinese and learn other related languages. I want to become a first-class specialist.”

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

An interesting fact is that initially the profession of a librarian was taught only at the RSL. AT 1920s years, various ideas for training employees of the then State Rumyantsev Library Specialty Museum began to emerge and be put into practice, the foundations for course training and retraining were laid, and teaching methods were developed. Already in 1924, the Higher Library Courses were created. And in 1930 - the Moscow Library Institute (later it was renamed the Moscow University of Culture and Art).

“I came to the library by accident. On a clear October day, walking along Mokhovaya Street, I saw a signboard of the Library Business magazine on the house. Since at that time I was unemployed, I decided to just look into the personnel department of the RSL and find out if they had any vacancies. They suggested going to the library service department of the reading room for new arrivals. I readily agreed. And I've been working there for five years now." This is the story of Valentina Korenok, who, after her chance meeting with the library, decided not only to stay, but also to learn a profession. She graduated from the higher library courses two years ago. “Thanks to my studies, I began to relate to work more competently and better understand the specifics of our library as a whole.”

A diploma of higher library education can be obtained if you go to study at a specialized university. Here is the story of the vice principal training center postgraduate and additional professional education of the RSL Lidia Sergeevna Martynova. “My relative, Vasily Vasilyevich Serov, a prominent scientist, was 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 started studying librarianship. Graduated from graduate school. And, further, I went to work in 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 on 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. Given the course taken by the Government of the Russian Federation towards the computerization of the library environment, librarians are simply obliged to master the basic programs and services.

At the same time, there is also a reverse trend. To work in the RSL, IT-specialists without a library education are involved. 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 productive joint work over development library system Russia.

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The librarian is a very ancient profession, the existence of which has more than four thousand years. The emergence of this kind of activity is attributed to the Sumerian culture, because they were the first to use clay catalogs.

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

Profession librarian - description

Now, in our time, a modern librarian must know, understand and understand programs and technologies. Must be proficient with a computer and equipment for recording and reproducing sound and images.
The essence of the work is not only the reception and distribution of books. He is a librarian who protects books, he knows both the secrets of classifying and arranging books, and the rules for compiling directories and catalogs. Paper is a very fast-wearing material, a librarian knows the secrets of how 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, and so on.

Disadvantages of being a librarian

Librarians work full time. Therefore, there is no opportunity to earn money somewhere. There is some career progression. Some specialists are engaged in servicing readers. More experienced staff– are engaged in the formation of the fund and ordering new literature. This profession has its downsides. The salaries of librarians are often low. Over time, the salary increases little. There is not much career growth in this profession. Some employees are engaged in science.

Profession librarian - duties

The idea of ​​the average reader about the work of a librarian is often reduced to the obligation to lend out books. But this is far from true. The main work, most often remains unnoticed.

Employees do:

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

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

Where to get a job as a librarian

To be a specialist - a librarian with a profile diploma, you need to graduate from a library technical school, or enter the appropriate 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 obtained by employees in the process of work.

How to find a job

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

Employment portals are equipped with special tools to make it easier to find vacancies. Jobs can be sorted by city or professional area, etc.

In addition to job search portals, job seekers use newspapers or magazines. There are many newspapers that post job offers.

In addition to all of the above methods, there is still the opportunity to contact the employment center. it state organization, which, under certain conditions, provides employment services. For more detailed information you need to contact the regional branch of the CZN.

 

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