Evolution of libraries and the roles of a librarian
LOOKING back at the history of the first systematically organised library back in the seventh century (600 BCE), Ashurbanipal the Assyrian ruler in Nineveh contained approximately 30,000 cuneiform tablets assembled by topics ranging from archival documents and scholarly texts, works of literature, including the ancient ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’.
Other ancient civilisations across the globe built their repositories of knowledge.
In the mid-1800s, more public libraries opened around the world.
The Dewey’s decimal system was introduced in 1876, bringing order to increasingly unwieldy book stacks. In the 1890s, the first children’s reading room was opened to encourage childhood reading and education at Brookline Public Library.
Checkouts went electric in the 1930s, computerised cataloguing came in the 1940s, digitising of library content came in the 1980s, and the first digital library known as Mercury Electronic Library was introduced in 1991 by Carnegie Mellon University. In the late 1990s, the library architecture evolved.
Then came the modern library design, providing light and airy open-concept seating arrangements for the community.
The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology was introduced in 2000 to simplify check-outs of books and other library materials.
Over the years, the evolution of libraries has brought significant changes to the roles of librarians.
Take the RFID self-checkout kiosks, for example; patrons have become empowered to handle book check-outs on their own. This has led to a change in librarians’ role to provide more important services to their communities.
Librarians go above and beyond their job description every day, and the list is neverending – more than the job title. The most commonly known job titles are archivist, art history, cataloguing, curator, design, digital, fine arts, fine and performing arts, humanities, and liaison.
Many are reported to having multiple titles, including some that are subject-specific and some that are functional, depending on the type of the institutions that they are in.
In this emerging paradigm, librarians are more focused on important and impactful work that involves community engagement apart from the traditional tasks of collection development, reference and instruction.
The landscape of librarianship shifted tremendously in times of economic crisis, and during the Covid-19 pandemic that unfolded in early 2020.
As budgeting for collections decreased rapidly, librarians sought new ways to connect with patrons through different modes of communication channels to continue engaging and supporting patrons with their research and learning.
In the traditional landscape of the library, skills that appeared in the ‘often used’ category included reference, selecting books, instruction, supervisory skills, engagement, and administrative skills.
Today, the frequent shifting landscape makes it predictable that most librarians or information professionals acquire creative-thinking and problem-solving skills, as they would use them most frequently in their daily tasks.
Many information professionals, regardless of subject expertise, are good problem-solvers and skilful at connecting library patrons with the resource or person to a particular question.
Librarianship as a whole is in transition, moving from collecting to connecting, and looking more closely at models of engagement.
The skills that librarians need are changing over time as libraries work to create inclusive spaces, highlight their collections, and engage with their communities.
All libraries are different – what works at one library might not work at another.
The same goes for the work of librarianship – the skills needed today may not be needed tomorrow.
As a librarian, one must have problem-solving skills, think creatively, keep an open mind, be adaptable, and know one’s audience and how to engage with the community, all the while assessing a library’s impact and value.