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painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo ]] A librarian is an information professional trained in or school media centers, and increasingly in other information-provision settings; the term is also used sometimes in a popular sense to refer to anyone who works in a library. Although librarians have been traditionally associated with collections of Book s, as seen by the etymology of the word "librarian," modern librarians deal with information in many formats, including books, magazines, newspapers, audio recordings in various formats (both music recordings and audiobooks), video recordings in various formats, maps, photographs and other graphic material, Bibliographic Databases , and Internet resources in general. They often provide other information services, including computer provision and training, coordination of public programs, basic literacy education, and help with finding and using community resources. In most western nations the librarian is a Professional with a Masters Degree in Library Science who is educated to analyze information needs and provide patrons in a variety of settings with information resources appropriate to meet those needs. In a Library , there are many positions other than that of librarian; such positions include library associate, library technician, library assistant, clerk, page, shelver, and volunteer. LIBRARIAN ROLES AND DUTIES Olivia Crosby described librarians as "Information experts in the information age".http://www.becomealibrarian.org Specific duties vary depending on the size and type of library. Most librarians spend their time working in one of the following areas of a library:
Experienced librarians may take administrative positions such as library or information center director. Similar to the management of any other organization, they are concerned with the long-term planning of the library, and its relationship with its parent organization (the city or county for a public library, the college/university for an academic library, or the organization served by a Special Library ). In smaller or specialized libraries, librarians typically perform a wide range of the different duties. Representative examples of specific tasks:
WORKPLACES Basic categories of workplace settings for librarians are routinely classified around the world as: public, academic, school, and special. Some librarians will start and operate their own business. They often call themselves Information Broker s, research specialists, Knowledge Management , Competitive Intelligence or independent information professionals. Below are the basic differences between the types of libraries. Public Library : These institutions are created through legislation within the jurisdiction they serve. Accordingly, they are given certain benefits, such as taxpayer funding, but must adhere to service standards and meet a wide group of client needs. They are usually overseen by a board of directors or library commission from the community. Mission statements, service and collection policies are the fundamental administrative features of public libraries. Occasionally private lending libraries serve the public in the manner of public libraries. In the United States, public librarians and public libraries are represented by the Public Library Association . , or Chief Librarian , is responsible for the library within the college structure, and may also be called the Dean Of Libraries . Some post-secondary institutions treat librarians as faculty, and they may be called professor or other academic ranks. Some universities make similar demands of academic librarians for research and professional service as are required of faculty. Academic librarians administer various levels of service and privilege to faculty, students, alumni and the public. s are qualified teachers who take academic courses for school library certification and/or earn a Master's degree in Library Science. Special Library : News, law, medical, government, nongovernmental organization, prison, corporate, museum or any other type of library owned and operated by an organization are considered as special library. They can be highly specialized, serving a discrete user group with a restricted collection area. In an increasingly global and virtual workplace, many special librarians may not even work in a library at all but instead manage and facilitate the use of electronic collections. Funding for special libraries varies widely. Librarians in some types of special libraries may be required to have additional training, such as a law degree for a librarian in an academic law library or appropriate subject degrees for subject specialties such as chemistry, engineering, etc. Many belong to the Special Libraries Association . There are also more specific associations such as the American Association of Law Libraries , Art Libraries Society of North America , the Medical Library Association , or the Visual Resources Association . EDUCATION In the United States and Canada, a librarian normally has a one or two-year and can have specializations within fields such as Archiving , Records Management , Information Architecture , public librarianship, medical librarianship, law librarianship, special librarianship, academic librarianship, or school (K-12) librarianship. School librarians often are required to have a Teaching Credential , as well as a library science degree. Many, if not most, academic librarians also have a second, subject-based master's degree. In the UK and some other countries, a librarian can have a three- or four-year in a subject field, followed by additional training in librarianship. Librarians in Australia can take one of two routes; an undergraduate degree in Library and Information Studies or a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies after the completion of a Bachelor's Degree in another discipline. The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)is responsible for accreditation of library specific qualifications for both librarians and library technicians. It is also possible to earn a Doctorate in library and information science. Graduates with PhD s usually become teaching faculty in schools of library and information science, or sometimes occupy the directorship or deanship of university libraries. Those undertaking research at the doctoral level can pursue a very wide range of interests including information technology, government information policy, social research into information use among particular segments of society, information in organizations and corporate settings, and the History Of Books And Printing . It is common in academic and other research libraries to require the librarians to obtain Master's degrees in some academic subject, sometimes but not necessarily related to their professional responsibilities; in major research libraries, some of the librarians will hold Ph. D degrees in subject fields. Other advanced degrees often taken in conjunction with a degree in librarianship are Law , Management , or Public Administration . Library associates, library technicians, and library assistants often have college diplomas but usually do not hold library-related degrees. Occasionally they also hold undergraduate or graduate degrees in other disciplines. These workers, sometimes referred to as para-professionals, perform duties such as Database management, Cataloging , ready reference, and serials and monograph processing. PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES The two largest library associations in the United States are the .) Recent issues of concern for U.S. libraries include implementation of the (ALA), some also join the Social Responsibilities Round Table . SRRT came into being amid the social ferment of the 1960s and is often critical of the American Library Association for not living up to its professed ideals. Another important activist organization is the Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). These activist organizations are viewed as controversial by some librarians, while others view them as a natural extension and outgrowth of their own deeply-held library ethics. TECHNOLOGY IN LIBRARIES The increasing role of technology in libraries has a significant impact on the changing roles of librarians. New technologies are dramatically increasing the accessibility of information, and librarians are adapting to the evolving needs of users that emerge from the adoption of these new technologies. The most significant example of how technology has changed the role of librarians in the last 50 years has been the move from traditional card catalogs to online public access catalogs ( OPAC s). Librarians had to develop software and the MARC Standards for cataloguing records electronically. They had to purchase and run the computers necessary to use the software. They had to teach the public how to use the new technologies and move to more virtual working environments. The same could be said of other technology developments, from electronic databases (including the Internet), to logistical functions such as barcodes (or in the near future RFID ). Many librarians provide virtual reference services (via web-based chat, instant messaging, text messaging, and e-mail), work in digitalization initiatives for works in the public domain, teach technology classes to their users, and work on the development of information architectures for improving access and search functionality. These examples illustrate some of the ways in which librarians are using technology to fulfill and expand upon their historical roles. Increasing technological advance has presented the possibility of automating some aspects of traditional libraries. In 2004 a group of researchers in Spain developed the UJI Online Robot . This robot is able to navigate the library, look for the specified book, and upon its discovery, carefully take it from the shelf and deliver it to the user. Because of the robot's extremely limited function, its introduction into libraries poses little risk of the employment of librarians, whose duties are not defined by menial tasks such as the retrieval of books. REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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