are they your friends have you a real love of books and learning you do that's good now do you like people and do people like you do you like all kinds of people the young as well as the old people in all stations of life if you do that's wonderful because when you have these two important qualifications love for books and love for people you may well consider the vocation of a librarian a vocation that gives full enjoyment to the librarian and radiated to the public the public that may consist of children with an awakening interest in literature or professional men searching for special scientific information on the blind who do their reading by touch are people of rural areas whose library is brought to them on wheels yes there are many aspects to this worthwhile occupation all of the vital importance in the nation's life let us consider some of the various types of libraries and start with the greatest of all the ibrary of congress which is located in washington d c what are the largest in the world this library asteras today nine hundred is relatively new when compared with those of some european countries serious dollars may use its excellent facilities and wonderful collection of more than five million books and manuscripts this truly national library extends research and other services to members of congress the government departments and to the public the many different libraries in our country have various functions depending on their location each one has to answer a specific need therefore a modest rural library must be different from a city library offering a multitude of services to meet the needs of a great variety of person the specialized library in an industrial plant is different from the one on by a law firm but all the libraries different basically the task of the individual librarian remains the same bringing books and people together the largest number of librarians are found in by the general classifications first we may mention the catalogers who usually work behind the scenes title either but it's a blue book and it kind of gives the whole story you know i think we can help this boy's problem was not an unusual one he did not know the author's name nor did he remember the title of the book but he knew the subject to television because the catalogue or did a good job the book was easily located and the boy was further encouraged to use the library facilities proper book act i'm starting a new project and great are pretty fired up on the subject for me the reference librarians located various materials through their familiarity with the contents of the library a very important money and time saving service to the public third we have the circulation librarian who organizes and supervises the distribution of books and by the way this job belongs to a classification which does not necessarily require college training or we have librarians who serve the young people much the same as adults are served except that the children's levels of interest are emphasized each child is looked upon as an individual whose reading habits are in the formative period they have there are other school librarians who contribute to the educational programs of their school college and university libraries employ special staff for the work of research cataloguing reference send circulation just as do the large public libraries the large public schools generally employ special librarians to assist the pupils in finding suitable books during free reading period a librarian perhaps to direct the young readers interest into approved and worthwhile channels are challenging and rewarding job in the smaller schools the library is usually under the supervision and direction of a teacher librarian pupils working during free periods generally handles circulation however under such a plan the library personnel changes from period to period with little opportunity for individuals to really understand library work up till now we have discussed the jobs that must be done in every library so far we mention the catalogers the reference library and the circulation children and school librarian at times they do their share in the reviewing of new books evaluating and eventually buying them this is done with one single purpose in mind the improvement of their service to the people in th community and the country at large in library work there exist a number of positions that require a special competence and preparation take for example the administrator of a large library often a highly paid executive you understand that this person needs a great capacity for leadership i do agree a vision and imagination and a thorough understanding of all phases of procedures in his organization then there are the special in subject resources particularly in scientific technical and social science fields render bibliographic and reference service to public university and special library extension librarians park county and regional libraries who understand the social organization of rural communities and the objectives of rural leaders pioneer in a steadily expanding field librarians and adult education including readers advisers community workers and group leaders provide special service for adults public relations specialists and target the library's work to the public by personal contact or by means of newspapers radio films or other methods of public relations specially trained librarians are always developing newer resources and educational uses of micro film motion picture film and other visual materials such as posters and pamphlets a graph records are also found in many modern libraries hospital librarians provide special services for patients and hospital personnel for instance did you get me that material the professional librarian is required to have a college degree and to have attended a special library school although librarians in small libraries are not required to be library school graduates they must have had some special training reference work required in high school courses in the sciences both social and physical well being especially helpful and equating you with the library to study the work of your school librarian and perhaps you can secure permission to assist if you become a librarian you will find that there can be great variety and interest as well as security in this career your abilities will be challenged but you will be rewarded with real pleasure from your work salaries comparable with those of similar professionals and opportunities for advancement you will derive satisfaction from a knowledge that your work is vital and essential and bombing the kind of world in which you want to live when you investigate the field carefully you will find that there is a need for thousands of trained librarian contact the library schools and the american library association they are able to give