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Permalink Reply by Siddhartha Shankar Ray on December 30, 2011 at 20:48

Dear Sri Rakesh Sharma,

Thanks for your post and addressing an issue which, as I see, is rare of its kind!! However, the term Professionally Strong exerts a dual meaning: One is, how to get strong with requisite knowledge base and the other, which is more prominent at present phase of time is to create a strong group of professionals who will unanimously raise their voice DEMANDING incentives mostly on the basis of academic qualifications with extremely poor knowledge base!!

I am sorry for the above comment but it is on the basis of zealous observation s over the years. Actually, with the advent of ICT applications in Library professions, a bunch of extremely skilful technical professionals has come up in our profession but unfortunately, the academic flavour of Librarianship has become extinct. As a result we often witness lousy topic of Ph.D. even persons intending to do Doctoral Research are practically begging for topics as their knowledge base s are so poor that they can not even conceive what can be done. All they want is a "topic" which can fetch the Degree. It is immaterial whether it enhances one's knowledge base, creativity and ability to analyze. It is, to them just a jbo to get a degree!! Unfortunately, the teachers who are guiding these so called Doctoral Researchers, seldom bother to inspire the students to take up a project befitting for doctoral Degrees.  In several cases it was observed that Ph.D Theses are just extended versions of M.lib/M.Phil dissertations and it is not the case in our profession only, it is by and large common to other subjects as well. But the negative impact of this trend is more pronounced in Library Science Profession as we often demand Teaching status and introduce ourselves as gatekeeper of the epitome of knowledge!!

   

As I see it personally ( I might be entirely wrong!) A person should have a sound basic knowledge. (It does not mean that s/he has to memorise all the Cannons of Classification or the Prolegomena but should have a good understanding of the basic subjects so that s/he can interpret theories into practice. And when in service, s/he MUST have acquire at least  nodding knowledge of the subject field. Personally speaking, fresh from University, I joined as a Librarian in a post graduate Medical Library and I used to memorise Pediatrics means Diseases of Children, Nephrology means Disease of Kidney, Hematology means issues related to blood etc.This self-teaching I had to do for the sake of sustenance!! and it paid me back in a big way to become in-charge of a Library in a highly reputed National Biomedical Research Laboratory within three years!!

I am not trying to blow my own trumpet, believe me as I have well passed that age and after completing a pleasant journey of over three decades, when I look back, I still remember the guidance I had received from several Senior Doctors and Biomedical Scientists who practically used to teach a young Library professional  from suburban town to become a Medical Librarian!!

What I mentioned above is to let you know about the exercise which I believe is as essential and relevant to day as it was earlier. As presently the competition has become comparatively steep because of populous nature of applicants. (earlier usually 17- 25 applicants used to be for a post which has increased ten fold now-a-days or even more in case an advertisement is published for permanent position in proper pay scales), it has become more important to be versatile in nature of service potentiality. Besides a sound computer background, a candidate needs to be a good cataloguer &/or classifier. In smaller Libraries which are described as One Man Library such versatility is a prerequisite. It was same earlier aas of now. just a few changes are added. Like earlier when hand written catalogues and accession Registers were maintained, apart from good knowledge of Classification and cataloguing, persons with good handwriting, fast and with least spelling mistakes were preferred; while at present sound computer skill and ability to develop and maintain webpages are preferred. 

To sum up, What I personally feel, is that the incumbents should be academic, knowledgeable, flexible and skilful are the wo/man of choice.

Regards,

Siddhartha S. Ray, Calcutta

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