Librarian

"The Librarian", a 1556 painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

A librarian is a person who develops procedures for organizing information and provides services which assist and instruct people in the most efficient and effective ways to identify, locate, access, and use information and resources (articles, books, magazines, etc.). In the workplace, the librarian is usually a professional with a Masters degree in library science or information science who is trained and educated to analyze information needs and provide a wide variety of information resources to meet those needs. Although librarians are traditionally associated with collections of books, they can deal with the organization and retrieval of information in many formats such as Internet resources, compact discs, photographs, videotapes, newspapers, magazines, and computer databases.

Librarianship is about the processes of selecting, procuring, organizing, preserving, and making available data, information, and works, and empowering patrons to avail themselves of these, usually for the purposes of personal enrichment or expanding the sphere of knowledge.

In a library, there are many other positions besides the librarian, including library associates, library technicians, library assistants, pages, shelvers, and volunteers.

St. Lawrence is the patron saint of librarians.

Librarian roles and duties

The specific duties vary depending on the size and type of library, but most librarians spend their time working in one of the following areas of a library:

Public service librarians work with the public, frequently at the reference desk of lending libraries. Some specialize in serving adults or children. Children librarians may conduct specialized programs that help foster interest and competence in the young reader. (In larger libraries they may specialize in teen services, periodicals, or other special collections.)
Reference librarians help people doing research to find the information they need. The help may take the form of research on a specific question, providing direction on the use of databases and other electronic information resources; obtaining specialized materials from other sources; providing access to and care of delicate or expensive materials. Increasingly, these services are provided by other library staff.
Technical service librarians work "behind the scenes" ordering library materials and database subscriptions, computers and other equipment, and supervise the cataloging and physical processing of new materials.
"Collections librarians" monitor the selection of books and electronic resources. Large libraries often use approval plans, which involve the librarian for a specific subject creating a profile that allows publishers to send relevant books to the library without any additional vetting. Librarians can then see those books when they arrive and decide if they will become part of the collection or not. All collections librarians also have a discreet amount of funding to allow them to purchase books and materials that don't arrive via approval.
Experienced librarians may take administrative positions such as library or information center director. Similar to the management of any other business, they are concerned with the long-term planning of the library as a business, and its relationship with its parent organization (the city or county for a public library, the college for an academic library, or the organization served by a special library).
Archivists can be specialized librarians who deal with archival materials, such as manuscripts, documents and records, though this varies from country to country.

Common examples of tasks:

Researching topics of interest for their constituencies.
Referrals to other community organizations and government offices.
Suggesting appropriate books ("readers' advisory") for children of different reading levels, and recommending novels for recreational reading.
Supervising and promoting reading clubs.
Developing programs for library users of all ages and backgrounds.
Managing access to electronic information resources.

Recent issues of concern for U.S. libraries include implementation of the Patriot Act and the Children's Internet Protection Act. Yet librarians around the world share American librarians' concern over ethical issues surrounding censorship and privacy. Some librarians even join activist organizations like the UK-based Information for Social Change and the North American-based Progressive Librarians Guild. Within the American Library Association (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.

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 brokers, 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.

Academic library: Libraries that serve a post-secondary institution. Depending upon the institution, the library may serve a particular faculty or the entire institution. Many different types, sizes, and collections are found in academic libraries and some academic librarians are specialists in these collections and archives. A University librarian, 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. The school may make the same demands of academic librarians for research and professional service as are required of faculty. Academic librarians may have to administer various levels of service and privilege to faculty, students, alumni and the public.

School library: Libraries which exclusively serve the needs of a public or private school. The primary, if not sole, purpose is to support the students, teachers, and curriculum of the school, or school district. Audio-visual equipment service may also be included in a school librarian's responsibilities. In the United States there are many non-ALA accredited university faculties that exclusively serve their state’s need for school librarians. More often than not, teacher-librarians are firstly qualified teachers who take additional qualification courses in library administration from faculties of education.

Special library: Law, medical, government, prison, corporate, museum or any other type of library owned and operated by an organization is considered a 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 an electronic collection. 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. Many belong to the Special Libraries Association. There are also more specific associations such as the American Association of Law Libraries or the Medical Library Association.

Education

In the United States and Canada, a librarian normally has a one or two-year master's degree in library and information science, library science or information science (called an MSLS, MLS, MIS, MISt, MLIS or MILS) from an accredited university. These degrees are accredited by the American Library Association 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.

Elsewhere, a librarian can have a three- or four-year bachelor's degree in library and information studies or Information science; separate master's degrees in librarianship, archive management, and records management are also available. In the United Kingdom, these degrees are accredited by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and the Society of Archivists.

Doctorates in Library and Information Science are also possible, with graduates of these programs holding Ph.D.s. They often become university faculty (teaching in LIS programs) or university librarians, e.g. directors of Academic Libraries. The PhD is normally required for a library director in an academic setting, though the doctoral degree need not necessarily be in Library Science.

Other degrees often taken in conjunction with a degree in librarianship are law, management, or public administration.

Library associates, Library technicians, and library assistants usually do not hold the specific Library Science or Information Management Master's degree, but often hold bachelor's and master's degrees in other fields. They perform duties such as database management, cataloging, ready reference, and serials and monograph acquisitions.

Professional organizations

The two largest library associations in the United States are the American Library Association (ALA) and the Special Libraries Association. Many states have their own library association, as well. Librarians may also join such organizations as the Association of College and Research Libraries and the Public Library Association. The Canadian Library Association serves Canada and there are provincial associations as well, such as the Ontario Library Association. In the United Kingdom, the professional body for Librarians is the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (formally known as the Library Association). The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) represents the interests of libraries and librarians internationally. (See also the List of Library Associations.

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). Librarians had to develop software and the MARC standards for cataloging 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). In the future, it will not be uncommon for librarians to be providing virtual reference services, using digital rights management to distribute documents, work in digitalization initiatives for works in the public domain or working on the development of information architectures for improving access and search functionality - among other things. These examples are merely new ways that librarians are using technology to fulfill and expand upon their historical roles.

For some, there is the belief that technology will eventually make librarians irrelevant. It is not uncommon to find mention of trivial applications of technology as "librarians". For example, in 2004 a group of researchers in Spain developed the UJI Online Robot. Many called this a robotic librarian. Considering that the robot was only capable of navigating the library, looking for the needed book and carefully taking it from the shelf, speculation on the potential threat to the job security of this kind of robot to librarians is premature.

Practically, advances in technology move to eliminate more mundane tasks - such as getting books from a shelf - and free librarians for more difficult and valuable work. Those librarians that embrace technology and use it to their advantage only increase their job security - not decrease it.

Librarians in popular culture

In most animated cartoon series, like Baby Looney Tunes to Rugrats, and even Doug, the librarian is often shown silencing the main or pivotal characters, especially younger children, when they're in a library area. Some even ban the characters from the libraries for many explicit or strange noises. This is a consistent cultural stereotype that can be seen in such products as the Library Action Figure, an action figure of the stereotypical librarian holding a finger up to her lips, indicating silence.
On All That, there are several sketches that feature a silence-obsessed librarian (known as "The Loud Librarian" to some) that scolds someone for even making a coughing sound. She is eventually "fired" when Lori Beth Denberg leaves the cast in 1998.
In the Discworld book series by Terry Pratchett there is a librarian who has been magically turned into an orangutan. In these stories, librarians frequently have supernatural powers related to books and library work, including access to a form of hyperspace known as L-Space.
A wretched alternate fate is revealed for Mary Hatch Bailey (played by Donna Reed) in the movie It's a Wonderful Life: "She's closing up the library!"
Vox (played by Orlando Jones), a holographic entity possessing a "compendium of all human knowledge," works at a futuristic New York Public Library in the movie The Time Machine (2002).
Mary (played by Parker Posey) is the ultimate Party Girl (movie) who discovers, "I want to be a librarian!"
Librarian Bunny Watson (played by Katharine Hepburn) teaches Richard Sumner (played by Spencer Tracy) a few things about modern research methods in the movie Desk Set.
Heather Stephens plays Jill, the awkward librarian (and closet dominatrix), in the movie Tomcats.
Shirley Jones stars as the no-nonsense "Marian the Librarian" in the movie The Music Man.
Librarian Jocasta Nu is a crotchety archivist in the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Evelyn Carnahan is proud to be a librarian in the movies The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.
In the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Anthony Stewart Head plays the role of school librarian Rupert Giles, Buffy's watcher.
In the comic book series Batman, Barbara Gordon is a computer-savvy librarian using the name Oracle. Before she was shot by the Joker, restricting the use of her legs, she was known as Batgirl.
Lucien, from Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman, tends to The Dreaming's library, where all the books that are dreamt of, but never written, are contained.
Noah Wyle's character in the television movie The Librarian: Quest for The Spear.
Jet Li's character in the movie Black Mask works as a librarian.
Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Librarians are superhuman fighters with potent psychic powers, rather than just being deskbound intellects. Wielding force staffs and psychic abilities, they are found on the battlefield battling alongside their non-psychic battle brothers delivering justice to the Emperor's enemies, while at the same time advising the Space Marine Commander.
Jack and Annie in the Magic Treehouse Series of children's books become "Master Librarians".
Irma Pince is the librarian in several of the Harry Potter novels. She is a minor character as a disciplinarian librarian in the Hogwarts library.
The Shifted Librarian
Last Life in the Universeis an intriguing tale about a male Japanese Librarian.