What is the job description of an librarian?

Answer 1

A "good librarian" is someone whose existence is recognized by the reader/ user/ customer.

This is the most basic. Be it seen or heard, your presence must be made known to the customer, however vague. In short, the customer must know that the librarian exist. I know this point is debatable but I convinced myself eventually. Even if one is the greatest librarian in the world, if the customer doesn't recognise your existence (and therefore the value you add or create) sooner or later, they're going to ask, "What do I need you for?", even though they use the library.

- A "good librarian" is someone who is accessible.

This is a logical step up from #1. Librarianship is fundamentally about Service. There is no service in the long run (or at least not one with the librarian employed) if customers cannot reach the service provider -- whether it's a face-to-face service, or correspondence via email, or whatever is the gizmo-of-the-day.

- A "good librarian" is someone who produce results.

The key word is "results". It implies the entire range of personal and technical competence of the librarian -- search skills, book talking, facilitation, cataloguing, managing budgets, managing staff -- whatever the tasks assigned. The results are in accordance to what the customer wants.

- A "good librarian" is one who understands and appliesRanganathan'sFive Laws of Library Science.

The Five Laws are: # Books are for use. # Every reader his or her book. # Every book its reader. # Save the time of the reader. # The Library is a growing organism.

- A "good librarian" is someone who's passionate about their job

"Passion" implies that a good librarian tries hard to go beyond the "mediocre" and "adequate". The job, ultimately, is about providing a service to customers. There can never be good/ excellent service without passion in what we do.

Answer 2

A librarian is the care-taker of the books in the library. She scans books, so she knows who has issued which books and when no one's around, she sorts the books onto the shelves and cleans up, so that the next visitors of the library can search for a book that suits them and easily find the perfect book for themselves and settle in to enjoy the wonders of the library. But it is the librarian's job to also make sure that all the visitprs are silent as a mouse, so they do not disturb the students who are studying there.

Answer 3

they need to be able to read :P