To become a successful library
professional in the profession, it is essential to keep the seven points alive all
the time:
1. Active Responder:
A normal library user enters the
library with the hope to get the desired material with less effort. Here, a library
professional should play the role of ‘Active Responder’ by attending to many queries at a time and also keeping alive the unfulfilled demand till the
demand is fulfilled.
2. Empathetic behavior:
Empathy allows your inner
consciousness to feel others’ pain as if you have pain. A library professional must
respond in an empathetic manner to the library users and also must try to build enough confidence in them to use library resources & services with
self-help.
3. Service before Self:
A library professional should
enter the library with the motto “Service before Self”. In other words, the five laws
of library science should always remain in mind and library professionals must
offer themselves after service to the library.
4. Tactful Approach:
The library is a center of service
where a user approaches with different attitudes and options. A tactful
approach by library professionals will help to deal with the various types of users
with ease and can avoid inviting bad names to the profession.
5. Perseverance:
It is better to knock on another door if a library professional cannot devote his heart and soul to the profession as the library profession requires very hard work and perseverance. The library profession
is just not the last door for rejected souls rather it demands enough patience
and disposition toward the profession.
6. Service with Smile:
A library professional must be
capable enough to guide others in a true sense. S/he must be conversant with
library resources available in the library in order to provide the service with a smile. Library Professional’s capability should attract library users
towards themselves to quench their thirst.
7. Collection development without
any prejudice:
Collection development in the
library by a library professional must be without any prejudice. However, the
library professional should not build a collection which is below standard.
At the same time, rejection of documents should not be based on personal like
or dislike for declaring the documents as below standard.
DP Tripathi
NIT Jalandhar