Where has Your Librarian Been?

How many times have people said to me "You have to go to graduate school to be a librarian?" since I decided to go to library school? More times than I can possibly count. People are unaware of the training that librarians get to be able to answer the literally thousands of reference questions they get a year. So, what do librarians learn in school, and how does that relate to what patrons can expect from them?

For one, librarians take classes in collection development, or collection management. This involves more than just ordering books; it means a creating a selection policy for the library, which requires a use and user study of the library and its communities. In fact, some librarians may have taken a class in which the entire focus is use and users. A user study helps the collection development staff determine the kinds of books the library should purchase by revealing user needs and gaps in the collection. Youth or young adult librarians probably have taken a course specifically designed for developing kid or teen collections.

Reference librarians will have taken at least one course that is specifically geared toward reference work. This course, no doubt, evaluated their search strategies and taught them how to find information quickly for patrons at the reference desk. Many reference courses are specialized, so your favorite librarian may have a particular area (e.g. physical sciences, social sciences, humanities) in which he or she has more experience. However, any reference librarian should be able to answer your questions or find someone who can, so do not hesitate to ask!

On the more technical side, catalogers will most likely have taken a two or three course sequence on various aspects of cataloging. The focus of these courses is access; the foremost goal is to create a record for an item that can be retrieved in multiple ways so a patron will be able to locate the item they want. Also, most technical services departments will require course experience in book repair and preservation. Unfortunately, books just don't last forever, especially the ones that circulate heavily.

Librarians who have graduated in recent years will have taken several courses involving various forms of technology. Some skills that they may possess are setting up computer networks, using instructive technology, programming, designing web pages, and lots of other useful things of which you may be able to take advantage.

Librarians are a valuable resource in the community, but many times they are the most under-valued resource because so many people do not realize what they have to offer. But now you'll be able to challenge your local public librarians by making them live up to the education they received.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic