Librarians: Job Description, Education, Skills, Abilities, Duties, Earnings and Outlook
Submitted by: paula
Job Overview Librarians are often defined as professionals who man the library. While this is true, their task is not only to make it run smoothly but also to maintain continuous development and improvement of the library. They are the most prominent information professionals in the information services field who help patrons select the most appropriate materials and find information that they need. They work in various work venues such as the public libraries, academic libraries, medical centers, corporations as well as school libraries and government agencies. Presently, there are around 159,000 librarians who are employed in the United States.
Education, Knowledge and Trainings Required
If you wish to establish a career in becoming a librarian, prepare as early as high school by taking courses in English and Computer Science. These are going to be very helpful in setting up a good foundation for your future career. The minimum educational requirement is a possession of a Bachelor's degree in Library Science and Library Management. Advancing in a higher position will necessitate a master's degree in any of the subspecialty of the field.
Skills and Abilities
To be a very successful librarian, skills in information organization is necessary. Aside from this, an eye to details will enable the librarian to make each of the reference materials and information source specifically organized and locatable. As they will be assisting with the patrons, a teaching and helping skills are needed. They should also present themselves well with good interpersonal skills and communication skills both in oral and in written form. Leadership and management skills will be helpful in managing the library as a whole and influencing the subordinates and making them follow through a common goal.
Duties
Librarians are the key personnel wherever the different references: books, audiovisual materials, magazines, and variety of information materials are kept and cataloged. Their tasks are also dependent on their specialties. Librarians may either focus on providing user services or on technical and administrative services. Depending on the size of the library, the institution may need for them to do combination of these tasks or may highly specialize in a few duties. They may help patrons find the materials and the resources that they need, update the card catalogs, reorganize resources, request for modern and updated materials, manage files online, repair and send out damaged materials or manage personnel in the library.
Earnings and Job Outlook
The range of salary of a librarian starts off from 29,000 U.S. dollars to 47,000 U.S. dollars per annum. The factors that affect the rate of the salary include the location or the state of employment, the size of the library, the position in management, educational attainment and the number of years of professional work experience in the field. Others may earn around 78,000 U.S. dollars in a year or more. The job outlook however, is expected to move slowly than the average as not many libraries are being constructed in different states nowadays due to the internet based information sources that are rapidly developing and replacing the traditional ones.
Paula Hiz is a researcher and a human resource specialist who helps newly graduates, job applicants and post graduate professionals be aware of their job opportunities and available trainings for skills and practice upgrading.
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Word Count: 536 Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2011 Time: 9:00 AM
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