With an increase in the number of institutions imparting professional training in the country, the need and importance of libraries too has grown. This has led to demand for library professionals and the field is now an independent discipline.
Students who want to opt for library science should have keen interest in books, organising ability, excellent communication skills and customer service attitude. The job involves a wide range of reading and processing of information content through cataloguing, classification and indexing, storing documents and retrieving the required information. As most institutes establish e-library, students should also have knowledge of computers.
The minimum qualification for admission to department of library and information science at University of Rajasthan is graduation in any stream. Students who are interested in higher studies and research can study MPhil and PhD. To become a grade-I librarian or assistant librarian in a college or university department, master's and UGC-NET pass is required.
The employment and placement prospects of librarians are good today. Trained professionals can get employment in public and government libraries, universities and other academic institutions, news channels and broadcasting agencies, museum, art galleries, research and archive departments, and information and documentation centres. Banks, private publishing houses and other private companies handling voluminous information also hire librarians. Professionals can also work as freelancer researchers, consultants, cataloguers etc.
The pay and perks vary depending on qualifications, experience, and repute of hiring institutes and nature of work. Professionals employed in government museums, archives, and galleries have higher earnings than those in colleges and universities. Librarians working in private documentation centres and research institutes also have handsome earnings.
As told to Ajay Singh
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