by Rohan Jolly

Created on: January 15, 2010   Last Updated: January 16, 2010

This is a topic which is close to my heart in more ways than one. As a child I loved books. Not reading so much, but I loved books. My idea of heaven involved a huge endless library perched on the clouds with shelves reaching for the blue sky above, stacked with every book under the sun. I would spend countless hours in my school and national library. I grew up in a very small island hence these were the only two libraries I had access to. These libraries were the biggest collection of books I had seen till I went to Australia for my further education.

At first my impression of a librarian was a middle aged woman whose job was to stack books back in the shelves and make entries regarding who borrowed which book in her register. This impression remained until I finished secondary school. After which i shifted to another school for higher studies. Here my impression of librarians was a bunch of people in their early twenties who congregated behind the desk to their own fraternity. They weren't entirely concerned with the books or us. At least they kept the shelves stocked. That was all they did. Later on I moved to the final leg of my school education, I had to change school again as there was only one school where this last leg could be completed where I lived. Here I got my first glimpse of what a librarian in reality is. The people were a bit more serious about the books and the shelves were labeled and stocked according to index. They actually knew their job even if they weren't the most friendly or helpful. Here you could actually get told off for making a din. The library was huge compared to what I had seen before that but it largely remained empty.

When I first reached Australia I saw the western idea of a library. A huge building going up five floors with computers and books spread everywhere. Here there were zones for everything, even to eat and socialise. The librarians were countless and mostly worked on their own without coming into notice or bothering you in any way. Everyone seemed to know their role, including the students. Until now I thought that libraries might be run like bureaucratic offices. Upon a bit of research I discovered that there are very clear roles for librarians. There are 3 different kinds of librarians excluding all other supporting staff. Each specialises in a different aspect of the running of the library, from user services to administrative services, and technical services. Being a librarian was more than stacking books

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