Experience as a volunteer or in a part-time job in a library will be helpful for aspiring library technicians.
Whatever your educational or training background, you should demonstrate aptitude for careful, detailed, analytical work. You should enjoy problem solving and working with people as well as with books and other library materials. Good interpersonal skills are invaluable, since library technicians often have much public contact. As a library technician, you should possess patience and flexibility and should not mind being interrupted frequently to answer questions from library patrons.
You should also exhibit good judgment; you'll need to know when you can effectively assist a user, and when the problem must be referred to a professional librarian. Since there are many tasks that must get done in order to make materials available to users, you must have excellent time management skills. Technicians who supervise the work of others must be able to manage effectively, explain procedures, set deadlines, and follow through with subordinates. You should also feel comfortable reporting to supervisors and working alongside other technicians in a team atmosphere.
- Acquisitions Librarians
- Archivists
- Book Conservators
- Children's Librarians
- Corporate Librarians
- Database Specialists
- Exhibit Designers
- Film and Video Librarians
- Information Brokers
- Law Librarians
- Librarians
- Library and Information Science Instructors
- Library Assistants
- Library Directors
- Library Media Specialists
- Medical Librarians
- Music Librarians