In the children’s room of a city library, a woman gathers toddlers and their parents together for story time. At a law school, a man teaches students how to find information they need for their classes. In an office downtown, a man working for a large corporation searches the Internet for news about a rival company. In a special museum vault, a woman carefully mends a rare book printed three hundred years ago. What do these people have in common? They are all librarians.
Librarians perform a wide range of tasks, both in public view and behind the scenes. A librarian in a large library might work in only one department. For example, he or she might focus on organizing magazines or answering reference questions.
Most librarians say their love of books and reading led them to pursue library work. Many fondly remember the time they spent in libraries as children. Library jobs offer a flexibility that appeals to many prospective librarians. Librarians can find jobs nearly everywhere, and there are many part-time library jobs.
Kathleen Keeler has fond memories of the bookmobile that came to her neighborhood when she was a child. Every week it parked down the street from her house, and Keeler visited it regularly. It felt like her own private library. She checked out books and participated in the library’s summer reading programs.
