Monday 13 July 2015

Taking the Librarian path!

I am trying to remember back all those years ago, why I followed the path of becoming a librarian.
I think the starting point for me was getting a summer job in my local public library.  These were the days when students at college had to find work in some public arena in order to get the dole.
I remember trawling through the list of approved sponsors and suddenly seeing the local public library on the list.  I thought this was something that would suit me and off I went.

I loved the whole experience, it was a new building at the time so everything was shiny and new.  There were rows of lovely new books, lovely new furniture and a fantastic colorful environment.  I also loved meeting the customers coming in and dealing with their enquiries.  It was certainly a great pleasure to work there for the few months during the summer.

After that, I went back to college and completed my course, but the positive work experience stayed with me.  I became more aware of how libraries worked and started wondering what career path my college librarians had followed to be where they were.  I did some research and decided this was the career for me.  I subsequently did a library traineeship in an academic library setting, worked as a library assistant for a few years and then attended UCD to complete the Library and Information systems course.

That was a few years now, and since then I have worked as a subject librarian specializing in the area of Business and Humanities.  What amazes me is the continuously changing nature of the role of librarian.  Not only are we doing the traditional day to day housekeeping functions such as cataloguing, identifying new material etc we are now also teachers, learning technologists, academic writers and so on.  We are also surrounded and immersed in new technological developments such as the rise of social media and how it can advance the library cause. 

I think that is what keeps our role organic, relevant and constantly evolving.  It is great to be involved in this evolving arena.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Brigid. Great post! You've touched on the dynamic nature of being a librarian, and it is this dynamism that we are trying to capture and share with Rudai23, because the technology moves just about as fast as the job! Looking forward to reading more of your posts.

    The Rudai23 Team.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Wayne, thanks for taking the time to read my post! Yes, the role of the librarian has been transformed with new developments in technology. Rudai23 is a great way for librarians to learn new things!! I am really enjoying it so far!

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