Ranjan K Baruah
The National Reading Day was celebrated on June 19th around the country mostly digitally as schools and other educational institutions are closed. There is no doubt that libraries create opportunities for learning, support literacy, and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are vital to a creative and innovative society. Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker (1st March 1909 – 19th June 1995) is known as the “Father of the Library Movement” in the Indian state of Kerala. Because of this, June 19, his death anniversary, has been observed in Kerala as Vayanadinam (Reading Day) since 1996. In 2017, our prime minister declared the day as national reading day in India. The following month is also observed as National Reading Month in India.
There has been much contribution of P N Panicker in making Kerala as literate state in the country. Today, in our career column we would like to mention a career which is related to libraries which can promote reading habits for sustainable change. Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries and it is an interdisciplinary field. Libraries have been an integral part of our society but now there is the addition of digital libraries. We have seen the importance of e libraries or digital libraries mainly in pandemic situations as we are unable to access the main libraries.
The career in library includes areas like library and information systems management, classification/cataloguing systems, bibliography, documentation, preservation and conservation of manuscript, collection management, information systems and technology, research methodology, computer applications, reference, statistics and management, information processing, archives management, indexing, library planning, etc. The first school for library science was founded by Melvil Dewey at Columbia University in 1887.
Courses in library and information science includes Certificate course in Library and Information science (CLISc or CLIB) ; Diploma course in Library and Information Science (DLISC or DLIB) ; Bachelor in Library and information science (BLISC or B.LIB); Master in Library and information Science (MLISC or M.LIB); M.Phil in Library and Information Science, Ph.D in library and Information Science, etc. Aspirants should not confuse with few terms as the subject earlier known as library science is also known as library and information science. Graduates may apply for the graduation level courses related to library and information sciences.
Successful candidates may get engaged in different places like Public/Government libraries, Universities/colleges/schools and other academic institutions, News agencies and organisations, private organisations and special libraries, different embassies and high commissions, media libraries , different information centres/documentation centers, museums and different galleries , special libraries , etc and the job title are like Library Attendant, Library Assistant, Assistant Librarian, Librarian/Chief Librarian, etc .
Many universities in India offer courses related to library and information science. Apart from universities, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resource (NISCAIR) New Delhi and Documentation Research & Training Centre (DRTC) Bengaluru are two prime institutes offering Library and Information Science courses.
Job opportunities are in the government sector as well as the private sector. Apart from looking for jobs, aspirants may also get involved in the non-governmental sector and make a big difference. Here the inspiration can be P N Panicker whose efforts have yielded results. As the national reading day promotes reading , career in library and information science and librarians in any sector may do wonders when it comes to literacy and making a just and sustainable society .
(Ranjan K Baruah is a career mentor and skill trainer and can be reached bkranjan@gmail.com for any career related queries)