'Librarianship as a profession' - a lecture by Dr. M. S. Sridhar

Mysore University Library and Information Science Student Association (MULISSA) of the Department of Library and Information Science, University of Mysore, Mysore organised a Friday lecture by Dr. M.S. Sridhar, Head, Library and Documentation, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore on the topic ‘Librarianship as a profession’ on November 30, 2007. A summary of the lecture and the student interaction which followed is given below.
Libraries are under utilized. Only 1.5% of the population have access to the libraries. The myth that evolution of Internet has made libraries redundant contributes further to the less use of libraries. Dr. Sridhar counter argued that in spite of invasion of technology number of printed books and journals has not reduced. On the other hand it has increased. He said one in five books published and one out of three books borrowed from libraries are related to IT. If IT eliminates the printed books, why this trend he questioned. Dr. Sridhar presented some of the quality issues that need to be taken note of by the Internet users. Authenticity and accuracy are the major ones. Libraries are more reliable source for a common man. Filtering mechanism adopted in libraries ensures the quality and accuracy. On the other hand, Internet is increasingly becoming more popular creating the impression that libraries are no more required. Dr. Sridhar trying to rationalise this trend said accessibility, ease of use and perceived utility are the major factors for popularity of Internet. He opined that Internet and IT are supplement to the libraries and in real perspectives they are not threats.
Giving some tips for students Dr. Sridhar said that domain knowledge (library based skills), communication, research bent of mind, reading habit and ICT skills are the expected core competencies by the employers. He said that competition for job is increasing as number of qualified professionals coming out of library schools has increasing drastically. A huge chunk of graduates are coming out of library schools from open universities. This has created an imbalance between supply and demand as for as library professionals are concerned. In this context Dr. Sridhar gave advice to the students that they should go for specialization and be ready when the opportunity arises.
Dr. Sridhar’s lecture was followed by an interesting and elaborate interactive session. Students asked varieties of questions and sought clarifications on various intriguing issues. Some of the questions asked/issues discussed are as follows:
- Can Internet substitute a library?
- Whether the present university syllabus enough for developing a good librarian?
- How can one encourage young people to read?
- How to ascertain needs/wants of remote readers in the context of digital libraries?
- How one should equip to get good job?
- What are the core competencies of librarians?
- Whether classification and cataloguing are redundant in Internet era?
- How to improve social status of libraries?
- Libraries have been changing their names over the years from ‘Libraries’ to ‘Knowledge centres’, ‘Information Centres’ to ‘Information Kiosks’ etc. Whether this change in name inevitable?