Replies to This Forum

Permalink Reply by Johney J on July 29, 2014 at 16:31

Nature of work is different for each category of librarian.

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Permalink Reply by Manjunath K S on July 29, 2014 at 18:29

This article explains how differ Academic and Public Librarianship.

http://www.liscareer.com/li_swinging.htm

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Permalink Reply by Saroj Kumar Mandal on July 29, 2014 at 23:31

Respected Madam,

 Some one having PhD and other additional  qualifications, and more important is relevant experiences makes the mentioned posts different.

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Permalink Reply by Pandey,Virendra Kumar on July 30, 2014 at 6:52

Which Nature of work means job profile in corporate librarian? please explain anyone. 

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Permalink Reply by vasumathi on July 30, 2014 at 17:36

Dear Professionals,

Thanks for   all your  reply 

The article, difference in "Academic and Public Librarianship." making things clear, But in my personal practice, in India, once a librarianship is embossed ,its  tough to explore  in other  subdivisions   as chances are less to prove even, our  prerequisite status is  up-to the mark.  To improve our skill in a new  field, practice is indispensable , to gain that experience  we need  a opening  where  no institution /Management  dare to   give  a juncture . This is the position in India,, where , the grouping of  Librarianship cant be  altered . It’s the individual interest to grow /explore  in the same category  to meet the challenges.

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Permalink Reply by Dr.K.Nagaraju on July 30, 2014 at 17:57

Madam, individual interest is the key factor in LIS profession, that's exactly you said.

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Permalink Reply by Subeesh A C on July 31, 2014 at 1:07

Respected Madam,

 Thanks for your thought provoking sentences. Since being an assistant in a special library set up, I can with my limited experience, explain what I see, feel and sometimes how I need to respond in accordance with the situation. When I passed out from my school of LIS, I had a dream to work in a scientific set up; I don't know, I had. But later on, I identified my weaknesses by being an amateur library assistant in a big Engineering College Library; (I don't know, still I am able to find out and correct a lot) . After the realization of what I cannot, I joined a very reputed Academic Library as Trainee, truly speaking that was an approach changing experience for me, and from there I move on to 'How Can I' .

It was an academic library with soul taken from the values of European Libraries. By being a post graduate and above syllabled college, the Librarian kept a different approach there, he gave more importance to the collection (No duplication, Value Contents, Perfect cataloguing, Standard practices...etc) by maintaining the overall ambience of the Library; from the chair, table design to the building architecture. I can say that there Librarian was knowledgeable to tell the architect about the physics of light and how much from it he wanted inside the stack, and the same goes for furniture design to RFID implementation. Here I want to say that he had a vision for his Library. In an academic set up he cushioned a stage for the students to come and have some quality time there. Even I can remember today, when there was a visit in the institute the Director will bring the guests to show the Library. There I can remember students followed the rules because they are students, and we don't need to focus on services to attract the users because they are bound to come for information. (Mostly in an academic set up).

After the training I joined a school Library to meet my financial needs. There I came to know that Librarian has to play multiple roles to satisfy his users in different ways at varying levels (Mostly from the grass root level). A school atmosphere measure its Librarian as a teacher first then an information provider. As a teacher there I had to manage even the first grade students. First time in my whole carrier I felt that I am in a wrong place. Truly speaking it was not my cup of tea, even further I was scared that by hanging there I am ruining a nations future; let it be in the hands of those who are deserving and capable.( I have seen a lot in that 11 months service)

After the resignation, I joined my present job. It is a special Library set up. Here with the special collection we have to attract our users through various services. Sometimes we have to customize our services for the targeted project groups. Timely services are the backbone of a special library. Whether it is about standards updation details, patent data, Research in motion, experts details, article delivery, conference schedules, emerging technologies, customer views and demands, we the library staff have to deliver it on time to keep the value of that information to our Laboratory or any corporate entity. Subject (What the organization dealing with)Knowledge or Subject Interest of the Librarian is most valuable here. Time moves, customer views changes, project ideas revolves, technology changes and again with all these changes a Special Librarian has to change his services to make his relevance felt in that arena. 

It is a long journey, whatever our designation, wherever we stand, we have to move on as a professional, more importantly as an Information Professional.

For a better world.

Subeesh A C

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Permalink Reply by vasumathi on July 31, 2014 at 4:42

Dear Sir,

    Thanx for sharing your experience.  Yes   it’s a  long Journey.. and you are  very much fortunate  , as you have learnt  a lot ..and you have been given an  exposure, to   become skilled  in different areas,  Even though u didn't had  the clarity on choosing a stream.   

     Unfortunately, whether to blame  the  region, or  destiny ,  we  were unable to get an  exposure  as we are stamped ,, in a single field. May be , we had shown our stability in a same  place for   more than 6+ years.

      I admire your phrase “ wherever we stand, we have to move on as a professional, more importantly as an Information Professional.”

 

         We thrive to  grow in the field of  information centre , To quench that thirst , we seek  a path…

 

    

        

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Permalink Reply by Subeesh A C on August 1, 2014 at 20:42

There are lots of things (Planning, well-timed, Concentration, Cooperation…etc.) which give value to a duty, it need not be any particular profession’s to ascertain its core values. As for the Librarianship, its professionals core duties are as sentenced by K Rajasekharan “A librarian is intrinsically a facilitator of information exchange in between the knowledge resources and the users, and a proactive partner in knowledge building endeavors by the knowledge users. ”. Apart from that as told by my teachers and seniors, Library and Information Science is not a vast subject like Physics , Chemistry or even Computer science, with a little bit of interest and dedication we all can master most of subject areas within a limited time period. And again coming to our topic, though it seems same, the duties, facilities and services which should be provided in each Library categories you specified and asked are, honestly in my opinion are different and should be different for the sake of our profession. I will say, don’t assume this categories and its users are same, first of all for the sake of its subject research we have to be different and again to respect its user base.

I am sure you know the phrase “Librarianship is not a bed of roses”, it is very easy to make it a bed of that kind, but we have to thrive for not. It is on that effort we are going to get the so called status, and salary we are hoping for, for a very long time. As like what I mentioned earlier where I got trained, the library was intentionally setup (through creative facilities and resources) for its users to come and extract the juice as self improvised user, without disturbing his and others time. If we can make such tailored services and facilities for the users to utilize and empower, there is no sense in making an issue of a subject specific training or juncture availability; it is with your already learned ‘Information Fluency Skills’ easily achievable. All the above that is what we learned, practiced and now teaching the patrons through our knowledge of Library and Information Science, we just need to apply it on ourselves to understand which suits ourselves better.

In my opinion whichever category you choose, be specific in your attitude towards social skills to Library services, added with some research skills like vast reading and observational skills, you can be the best. Actually what happens is that ‘situations in time’ making a lot of changes around us and we unknowingly get changed and ultimately losing our spark. Library Science and Librarianship is such a profession that if you want to stay idle you can, but if you are willing to make it relevant, there are a lot of options and opportunities.

Hope you with your clear knowledge make us proud. And we are sure you will.

 

For a better world.

Subeesh A C

Pune.

 

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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on July 31, 2014 at 1:08

Dear Ms. Vasumathi,

Thanks for your post and addressing an important issue relating to specialization. Actually, in our time,  (some thirty years from now!!) In special papers there had been certain specific library system as optional studies like Academic Libraries, Public Libraries, Research & Technical Libraries & Archive & Manuscript Libraries. Besides, there had been further specializations in some Universities like say among  Research Library systems, there had been Medical Library System, Agricultural Libraries Systems ; Engineering & Technical Libraries systems etc. There is no denying that some of the jobs had been common or overlapping and they are same even in today's context. However, there are certain specialities. say for instance, working in a Scientific Research Library and Public Library or a School or College Libraries have certain distinct differences. In Western Countries, you need to specialize in certain types of special Libraries and they often run special courses. The Medical Library Association (of USA) has provision of a course of Associateship in Health Information Professionals (AHIP). The AHIP is  important for getting higher/senior posts in Medical Libraries.

In India, The WHO, SEARO under its HELLIS Programme conducted Five Weeks Training on Health Sciences Librarianship. However, like most other courses this course was meant for working Medical Librarians.As I understand many Medical Research Institutes  or the Institutes under Min of Health & FW often asked for these Training courses for appointment of middle level professionals in Libraries. So you see, the specific categories of Libraries do require certain specific expertise. And as you have mentioned the issue of Standard  this can be explained  for this Training as well.

Never the less, the concept of CEP or Continuing Education Programmes came into being because of these reasons! However, in a very simple term, the users' demands are the guiding rules of specialization. In that way the service potentiality differs from Library to Library even belonging to same disciplines.

Such specializations/expertise give rise to certain categorizations. In USA, among Medical Librarians, there are some of a special type called Clinical Medical Librarians  while the Public Health Librarians also co-exist separately. In our Country, such specializations are mostly informal. But as I understand, Medical Librarians are of a specific group in India. I  must confess that I do not have much knowledge about existence of Agriculture Librarians or Engineering Librarians in India but of course there are Broad groups of Science Librarians and Arts, Humanities & Social Science Librarians.And it is a fact that there are distinct differences in functioning of these two Groups.

Sincerely,

Siddhartha S., Ray, Calcutta

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Permalink Reply by vasumathi on July 31, 2014 at 19:48

Dear Sir,

 Thanks for giving  a source a  to  facilitate  on Health Sciences Librarianship ,I very well agree,  nature of work may  vary from  one  place to other. But Being procured a degree, in a stream, we expect to shine in   other areas of interest too (sub divisions)    Also, prepared to qualify that specialization if any mandatory   requirements   are their expectation. It is not a difficult part to adapt ourselves, in a different category, as our major subject is common.  Cause Librarian is a exceptional field, As opportunities are limited, it’s really a aggravation   , supplementary division of Librarianship should not be a obstruction for our development.

                                                             

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Permalink Reply by vasumathi on August 1, 2014 at 5:23

Thank you soo much for your positive reply  sir, Your ...answers are  very much satisfied  and it  is  an encouragement to boost ourselves  in this  field. Even though, a mild   variation in  the  work place,if chances are given , it is manageable to easily adapt   if  our backbone of our  subject is strong.  

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