Delving among dusty shelves in search of a long-forgotten tome. Retiring to a quiet corner to slip between the pages of an old familiar friend. The soft sibilance of the turning of a page and solitude. When life gets a little bit too hectic, one dreams how nice it would be to be a librarian.
But then, there's the general public, looking for books on this and that, thinking the author's name was John Something, wanting volumes reserved and being very, very displeased when the person who has them doesn't bring them back on time and asking to know the way to the bank and what time it closes. The life of the public librarian requires great organisational skills, boundless patience, an immense breath of knowledge and offers very little in the way of solitude.
"As a public librarian in any branch library, you're going to be dealing with the public constantly," says Anne McNeill, librarian with Kildare Library and Arts Services. "We're the one-stop shop for local information, we get people coming in looking for directions or asking about first aid classes, so you really have to know the area."
It's a career that has a lot to offer young people, says McNeill. Dispensing, receiving, cataloguing and looking after books is just one aspect of the job and there are other librarian skills requiring a huge amount of enthusiasm and energy. "It can be a great job if you want to work with children, developing resources for children, helping them to use the library and organising activities for them. You could also be out and about working with the schools service on behalf of the Department of Education."
Organisation is a key factor even in adult library services. Librarians are often involved in planning activities such as musical evening or art exhibitions, McNeill says. "You're using you skills to work with both adults and children, so you have to be very well rounded."
It is possible to start working in a library straight from school, but you must have passed five Leaving Cert subjects including maths, English and Irish. When jobs arise they are advertised by the local authority. The successful applicant will join the library as a library assistant, moving up to the next grade of senior library assistant generally takes about two years. To progress further, you must have a professional qualification in librarianship or information science/studies.
There are a number of routes to professional qualification. UCD offers full-time BA and BSocSc undergraduate degrees in information studies. They also have three full-time postgraduate courses in library and information studies. There are 16 universities in Britain offering a range of courses leading to professional qualification.
The professional qualification can also be achieved through distance learning. This allows those who already have library experience at library-assistant level to become eligible for promotion to the professional grades. There are two courses, one in the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and one in Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, which offer postgraduate qualifications by distance-learning. However, Aberystwyth, in association with UCD, also offers a distance-learning undergraduate degree in library and information studies to those with a Leaving Certificate and four years library experience.
The entry-level grade for public librarians after professional qualification is assistant librarian. From their they can progress up the career ladder to executive librarian and eventually county/city librarian.
Opportunities also exist for librarians outside the public library system. State departments and agencies and many larger companies and organisations such as the Irish Management Institute or the Law Library require librarians. Other librarians may decide to work in academic libraries in colleges and universities. "The professional qualification is relevant to all types of libraries," Alun Bevan, research and information officer with An Comhairle Leabharlann, says.
The availability of jobs outside the public libraries fluctuates, but, says Bevan, there has been a growth in the public library sector in recent years. "It has been an expanding environment. A policy report in 1998 recommended accelerated investment, and extra services went ahead at great speed."
