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Permalink Reply by Dr. Badan Barman on October 9, 2013 at 19:17

I dont know in what circumstances the interviewer asked you such questions but in practical they can ask any type of questions that help them to judge you. They sometime ask such questions to make you angry so that they can know you behavior / attitude in hostile conditions. It will help them to know about your behavior in real life communication with your library patron/users. In all circumstances, you should be able justify them the importance of the post and your suitability.

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Permalink Reply by Ms Charu Dev on October 9, 2013 at 19:38

agree with Mr.Barman, educational certificates show the academic picture of the candidates, but in order to judge mental caliber of the candidates, some time interviewer, asked those questions. so answer all questions in very intellegent and soft manner. Please remember, successful candidates of supreme institutions also may have face similar situation in any time in their professional life. 

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Permalink Reply by Punit on October 9, 2013 at 21:01

sir, i understand the facts and the situations. you are right that they can ask any question but it is very serious offense against the backbone of the library profession which came from the computerization, automation, use of semantics, outsourcing etc. In every field of library, automated system affected the professional capacity. for example, Now a days, a cataloguer is doing what? Simply he is doing the entry of bibliographical details of books, copying of the subject headings from LOC, copac, or Oclc, saves the files one step ahead prints the catalogue card in AACR2 format. Where is the professional skill?

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Permalink Reply by Ramesh Yernagula on October 9, 2013 at 21:39

No. Mr Punit you are confused. Basically, the automation or latest technologies /tools in the profession save our time consequently improve our output but not reduce our professional capabilities.Be practical in your field then you would realize. 

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Permalink Reply by Santosh Kumar on October 9, 2013 at 22:00

Very relevant questions has been raised by Mr. Punit Kumar Singh for all the library professional. Most of the interviewer face these problems during the interview. Most of the academician and library science expert who have acquired higher status in the profession raise this type of questions to the candidates during the interview which has nothing to do with the caliber of the candidates as well as development of the profession. They devaluate the works of the juniors who are generating most of the works at operative level in all types the library. This also reflects the mentality of these experts.They do not respect their own profession because of this our profession downfall has begun. Library professionals are treated as babus by them and pay commission is endorsing the same because they represent their also. This mentality of the subject expert must the changed, we are not babus. The cited works has been the pillars of the library profession in India. I am also disagree with Mr. Barman, judging the candidates does not give them freedom to abuse the profession and professionals.

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Permalink Reply by Nilesh Kumar on October 9, 2013 at 23:08

This type of question really discourage the professionals. We have to think over our profession. Is this profession really need to change? The curicullum need to be revised. Library should move towards the mall concept. Publication of print medium should be stopped. This is good point which is raised by punit.

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on October 10, 2013 at 0:18

Dear Sri Punit,

Thanks for your post and for addressing a quite common yet quite disturbing issue.

I have gone through the other posts also and  I admit that sometimes such questions are asked on purpose! And in many cases they are asked to evaluate the candidate's temperament. You should be quite tactful and cool while replying to such questions. like regarding the "Cataloguer" question you can reply very politely  Yes. Sir, but pardon me, a cataloguer has some subtle difference from a data entry operation. Like, a data entry operator is not supposed to know the intricacies of an "Hanging Indention"  or "Corporate Authorship" the difference between a "See" & a "See also" reference. Never-the-less, If you ask a data entry operator about the layout & general features of a standard Catalogue I am quite sure that in most of the cases . With all these, I believe that you too will agree with me that the job of a cataloguer is distinctly different from that of a data entry operator !!

Regarding the Salesman issue, You can reply with a wry smile, Excuse me Sir,  but I am sorry to say that it is  a unfortunate simplification and dilution of a fact. and in this way, even a teacher who get paid for teaching can be marked as a Salesman as he/she sales  what is called in Sanskrit "VIDYA" & a patient buys treatment from a Doctor!!

I fully understand & admit that it is so easy to write such things in LIS Link Post  while it is extremely different to maintain cool & presence of mind at an interview board. But It is equally necessary to be able to handle complex & delicate situation to lead a department /section.

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

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Permalink Reply by Ms Charu Dev on October 10, 2013 at 1:32

I am totally agree with Siddhartha ji,............once some asked me "when a simple non lis background person can perform issue return work, then why we hire a qualified even highly qualified person for that work". My reply was as under

"off course Madam( the person was lady who has asked me the question) a without lis background person can do CIRCULATION WORK, but there are so many formalities and functions need to perform and the foremost he/she should know from where he has to pick the book, and in case of return, he should have knowledge where it could be placed.........for that simple reason, you need to appoint or hire a well-qualified person".

so it is our duty to understand the question and reply accordingly,...........

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Permalink Reply by Alok Kumar Singh on October 10, 2013 at 1:08

These type of questions should be avoided by the experts in the interview.If asked then try to convince them by your reply.All the sections of the library are important to run the library.Modern libraries should adopt the technological changes for the betterment.

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Permalink Reply by Punit on October 10, 2013 at 1:18

first of all, thank you ray sir for your kind reply, you are right sir, there are so answers for these questions. but this discussion is initiated for the present scenario of the lis profession. these questions are not only to check the mental temperament of the professionals, bur also it reveals the the mentality of the officers towards the juniors.it opens the eyes of library staff that how they are being neglected in their own profession. Mr. santosh has pointed the issues that why PA, SPA, and others treated as low profile or merely clerck so why the salary of PA is much less than JNV/ KVS librarians.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Badan Barman on October 10, 2013 at 1:50

During such type of discussion we used to forget some very important points.

1. The LIS is a new subject at least in India and most of the people are still not aware of it.

2. Most of our retired librarians used to have only a bachelor degree in LIS or sometime a diploma. General people still have an idea that we are that much qualified.

3. In most of the cases our senior, our colleagues, our juniors including myself have not done anything special that will influence the people's opinion about this profession.

4. In most cases the planer and other highly qualified people always know the role of librarians and libraries, thats why we are enjoying such a huge salary (sorry if it low for you), such a huge grants for the development of the library (sorry if your college principal / vice chancellor / director or institute head divert the library budget to other heads). The scenario is obviously different for the librarians working in private sector. But in case of Govt organizations in most cases we, the professionals are responsible for the degradation of the profession.

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Permalink Reply by Dr. N K Pachauri on October 10, 2013 at 3:41

Dear

In kvs no librarian is Chaukidar.

kvs are the best serving institutions, per day we issue more than 100 books,per day we provide services to more than 300 students and teachers, open access system is followed, checking of book reviews of every students, activity base learning is being provided by librarian and many more activities are being perfomed in kvs.

 

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