Librarian

A librarian generally nominates a person to which is entrusted tasks of management of the collections and assistance to the users in a Bibliothèque, but also of the functions of general administration (staff management, data processing, finances).

The word is more particularly employed, in many countries, to nominate persons ensuring of the functions of framing within the libraries, even if one also employs, in certain countries, the term of Conservateur to indicate whole or part of them.

There exist still voluntary librarians (in particular for rural libraries or of district); it is sometimes a heritage of the popular libraries created as from the 19th century. However, the librarians are often professionals expressly trained for this trade. Moreover, in the majority of the Western countries, it is necessary to acquire an university degree of second cycle (control) in biblio-economics and information sciences in order to reach the profession.

This is why, in the majority of the countries, one finds very little, in the libraries, people having the title of librarian, and sometimes even none. The librarians there often occupy of the functions of management on the level of human, financial and documentary resources, and ensure the good walk in general of the library, in order to meet most adequately possible the needs for information of the users. They are found also responsible for the service of reference in several institutions.

The personnel which does not have the title of librarian is designated by various names like “clerk of library”, “assistant of library”, “associated librarian”, “librarian associated”, “storekeeper”, “associated inheritance” or others still.

Of the guard of the books to the professional of information

Since about thirty years, the occupation of librarian knew a major revolution with the measurement of the development of new technologies of information and communication. One could even say that the Bibliothéconomie is one of the fields of the human activity which underwent the most material changes these last years if one thinks that one passed from the file hard-bound to the databases in hypertext in a few decades. Who could have predicted that the university community would have access at a virtual library in Internet network during the Années 2000, whereas little time ago each department claimed his specialized library?

Today, a researcher, it do not matter the place where it is in the world, can reach specialized information and scientist in a wink. It is enough for him to have in its possession a computer and its password and to know so much is little the methodology of information retrieval. Moreover, this information is at the same time textual, audio-visual and numerical. However, the most relevant scientific information is provided to him via the college libraries and of research, which takes subscriptions with this intention.

This evolution asked for to the members of the profession an important capacity of adaptation, since the transformations on the plans organisational, informational and technological were hustled at an intensive pace so far. One can imagine that, from here a few years, a great number of databases will have been gathered and will be questionable by means of the human voice. The librarian will be always some share in front of or behind the computer, since it contributes and will always continue to contribute to the organization of the information of these specialized databases. Nevertheless, the machine, like the human being, must proceed to Boolean operations to discover significant and relatively complete information on a precise subject. To be satisfied with a partial research which will provide incomplete information involves risks and costs. It is certainly not there a scientific step and is not satisfactory for the researchers.

Under these conditions, some think that it is necessary to change the title of the profession - whose etymology first comes from the Greek biblion (book) and thêkê (discharge point), that is to say guard of the deposit of the books - for “professional of the something or information sciences” of similar, in order to take account of the recent evolutions of the trade. It is thus, for example, which the Association of the documentalists and specialized librarians (ADBS) became the Association of the professionals of information , without to change initials, or which the 3Ecole Nationale Sup3erieure of the libraries became in 1991 the 3Ecole Nationale Sup3erieure of the library and information sciences. To know if the risk that can involve to privilege the technique at the expense of the reflection in the trades of librarian is a chance or a danger is the subject of debates.

Personnel of the libraries in France

The personnel of the libraries mainly consists of civils servant and contract employees of public law.

Personnel of the National library of France, of the Public library of information, the libraries of higher education, and other libraries of the administrations of State generally raises Public office of State (FPE).

That of the public libraries or inter-commune and of the departmental libraries of loan concerns the Territorial public function (FPT).

However, consequently of a process of nationalization launched in the years 1930, which related to the provincial libraries born of the revolutionary confiscations, of the conservatives of the libraries concerned with the public office of State and remunerated by him exert in the classified public libraries (reaffirmed by the article 1st of the law).

The body (FPE) or frameworks of employment (FPT) are the following:

Conservatives of library occupy of other stations, as those of advising Livre and Reading in Regional managements of the cultural affairs.

Of administrative staff and technique also works in the libraries. The least qualified stations are often occupied by agents coming from other dies.

The information centers and of information of secondary education are held by professors documentalists. The BCD (library centers documentary) primary school education do not have statutory personnel (according to the cases a employment-young person, a assistant of education, a teacher, the voluntary ones or an municipal employee can assume management of it).

Smallest public libraries, as well as the majority of the libraries of the third network are held by the voluntary ones.

The personnel of the French libraries is mainly female.

Some famous librarians

Famous characters as librarians

Other known librarians

Famous characters having been librarians

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