What Other Professionals Need to Know

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The requirements of specialized library jobs vary greatly from library to library, even of the same time and size.

Education

  • A degree or certification in the job area, such as marketing, public relations, accounting, facilities management, network operating systems, software applications may be required.

Skills

  • Desire to serve the library's user community
  • Ability to exercise initiative and independent judgment
  • Knowledge of computers, and commercially available software
  • Ability to prepare comprehensive reports and present ideas clearly and concisely in written and oral form
  • Ability to motivate, establish and maintain effective working relationships with associates, supervisors, volunteers, other community agencies and the public
  • General knowledge of the philosophy and techniques of library service
  • Ability to organize job duties and work independently
  • Ability to communicate both orally and in writing

Experience

  • A general understanding of the workings of the library will give a person an edge in a job application, but libraries must often look "outside the library world" to fill such positions.

Career path

  • Specialized positions tend to be unique to organizations. In larger libraries there may be specialized departments, such as Information Technology, which may have a department head. In some cases people who start out in an area, such as technology, may later have an interest in becoming a
    librarian,
    library manager or
    library director.

Finding a job

  • Specialized positions are often posted outside of the library as there often isn't a wide pool of candidates within the organization. Postings may be placed in local newspapers and regionally.

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