asks Vox reader Alexia Cherry. I work in a public library, and I feel like a lot of the talk about libraries is about what librarians actually do that the public doesn't know much about. Many people I interact with are shocked that they need a master's degree to be considered an expert. Also, many people do not realize that there are many different types of library work.
It's true that people seem to find librarians strangely mysterious. In August, Western Illinois University laid off all of its librarians, while insisting that the university would continue to “provide full library services.” This school seems to operate on the belief that librarians are nothing more than warm bodies that exist to take books in and out, and that a master's degree is the only way to artificially inflate salaries. Ta. By following this philosophy, anyone can keep the library running without much effort. All you need to know is how to scan barcodes.
But libraries are generally undervalued, perhaps because they are such radical institutions. Of course, if you tried to invent a public library today, the right would never allow it. Imagine giving so many things to the public for free and subsidizing it all with taxes. How many other places are there where people can go for hours and not be expected to buy anything?
Perhaps on a subconscious level, we tend to culturally underestimate libraries, preventing them from reaching their full potential. If we're going to pretend that these are some weird bookstores that are subsidized by the federal government, how can they be giant warehouses filled with knowledge available to anyone who walks into them? You don't have to worry about whether your organization is staffed by experts who are highly trained in classifying, extracting, and storing knowledge. .
What kind of work does a librarian actually do?
Let's take a quick look at what libraries need and how librarians provide for those needs.
All libraries, from public libraries to academic institutions to businesses, need everyone to know what books they have, where each type of book is located, and what those books are good for. You will need to create an inventory so that you can In library science, cataloging is itself a highly esoteric discipline, closer to coding than anything else and requiring careful technical training. Catalogers describe each notable aspect of a book and categorize each aspect for search. This requires not only learning multiple classification systems, but also how to describe books you have never read, which parts of a book are most important, and which categories supersede others depending on the library. You must also receive training on ” are classified. Catalogers need to decide whether to code spoilers (would they classify a spy novel as a “double agent” even if it was the big plot twist at the end?) and to what extent should they continue to disaggregate it? You will need to make a judgment as to whether
Cataloging is one of the most advantageous skill sets for librarians in the information age because it is a highly rigorous and accurate form of information processing. After graduating from graduate school, some librarians work in corporate archives, where they catalog and preserve information about the company's history for internal use. (Although it's not a particularly glamorous job, the private sector tends to pay better than the public sector.) Students fresh out of library school can use the same skill set to process documents in historical archives. You can, but you also need to know how to handle fragile items. There is also the possibility of preserving ancient documents without damaging them, and of restoring books that have reached the end of their useful life.
All libraries also need collection specialists, and in the era of Prohibition they are under intense scrutiny. The acquisitions department is responsible for determining where there are holes in the library's collections and how to fill them. They respond to patrons' requests about whether it's a good idea to bring in a book full of errors, such as a book on creationism, or whether it's worth keeping a book on a controversial subject on hand. make a judgment. For example, say: Teen sex education — if patrons are protesting it.
Most libraries need research specialists to help patrons understand how to access what they want to research. If you want to dig deeper into your family tree, research librarians can usually tell you which newspaper archives to look at and give you free access to those archives. If you're trying to write an academic paper, a research librarian can walk you through the process of which databases are best suited to your field and how to work with them.
How are public libraries different?
Public libraries need all of these expertise and more. Because most public libraries have a mission to serve the communities in which they exist, they provide more resources than many people probably realize exist.
Public libraries in areas with large immigrant populations often offer free ESL and citizenship classes. Many libraries help connect patrons with social workers, food banks, public health, and legal resources. Many other stores let patrons check out things like cookware, musical instruments, board games, and even seeds.
Because public librarianship is one of the few remaining affordable third spaces, librarians are housed in addition to the literal social workers that many libraries currently staff. I find myself working as a de facto social worker for people who are not. Many libraries train staff how to use Narcan to revive people who have overdosed on opiates. Some provide hygiene kits and clean clothing for the unhoused. All this despite the low salaries of public librarians. The average salary in the New York Public Library System is only about $52,000 per year, which is less than the estimated cost of living in New York of $69,000.
Libraries are vast and complex technologies designed to store and organize information, as well as physical spaces that exist to serve their communities in the best possible way. The people who work there have to undergo a tremendous amount of training to do both. Even though their labor is often invisible to those of us who enjoy the fruits of it.
