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July 13, 2006
How to be a librarian
There is an article in the Careers section of the Times today about becoming a librarian by Carly Chynoweth of CILIP, the professional body of librarians.
Carly talks about having an interest in "information as a commodity" and enjoying helping people find things. I'm sure that's right, but she doesn't mention books anywhere in the entire article.
She is writing about all kinds of libraries, public, academic and professional, but we have a problem of recruiting enthusiasts into the public libraries and these aren't just about finding information- they are about enjoying books. The public library sector is the largest of all and it character needs to be described to would be recurits
Why does no one in the library profession ever talk about books? Why isn't "having read a lot and widely" an important reason for choosing this as a career? There are lots of other aspects that are important for giving good service, but this is an important one for a public librarian. Being a "community librarian" or part of the library in the community is one of the most important jobs in the library service at present. But they undervalued and lack influence.
Carly also talks about the second degree qualifications for becoming a librarian. I'm not convinced that having degrees makes one a better public librarian, at all; nor am I convinced that the Masters degree courses are helping to solve the problems we have in the library service, and I think they should be. In fact they are making the situation worse by digging the profession into an even deeper trench than it was already in. The University Library courses need to be reviewed.
I am not alone in thinking this, Sir Gerald Kaufman's widely ignored Select Committee report last year said the same thing.
Posted by Perkins at July 13, 2006 11:26 AM
Comments
Having recently endured the vague hodgepodge of A level sociology and night class beginner’s IT that passes for a Master’s degree in information management, I can vouch for the urgent need of a university library course review.
Mal- Thank you. Where was your Masters degree course? Tim
Posted by: Mal Content at July 13, 2006 3:42 PM
Tim. I totally disagree with your slight on librarians In criticising Carly, you seem to feel her desire to assist others is not commendable.Are you saying that a librarian should only gain information from books? I work in a public library and give users informations on books, via both books and the internet. Passing on the correct Information to users is whats important in a library.
Posted by: les at July 13, 2006 11:33 PM
No, Les, I didn't say that librarians should only gain information from books. And I certainly didn't wish to slight librarians.
Nevertheless I am conscious of the figure, which appears consistently, that three quarters of people visiting a library do so wishing to read, borrow, browse and refer to the books.
Passing correct information is, of course, a very important part of what a library does, but a library is also a repository of other people's understanding and writing. That's what I was trying to say. Knowledge of books is a good starting point for a librarian in a public library.
I believe that too little emphasis has been placed in the importance of books in public libraries, especially by the library profession, for many years and I don't apologise for saying that.
Posted by: Tim at July 14, 2006 7:45 AM
I'll avoid naming names, but heading in a north easterly direction should get you there.
Starting where? Why avoid naming names? Perhaps they would be grateful for being told?
Posted by: Mal Content at July 14, 2006 12:23 PM
please tell me how to promote a book and dewey decimal systen during my library assistant interview
Posted by: ranno at May 14, 2010 11:41 PM