New Professionals Special Interest Group
Sponsoring body: Management of Library Associations Section
Scope
While the public sector is still the main employer of professional librarians the private sector has in recent years been employing a larger number of librarians. This relatively new area of job creation covers both traditional library work but also related areas where librarians can provide expertise, e.g. ICT, archiving, consultancy and communication. Naturally this development can only be viewed in a positive light - job creation, new professional opportunities and better salaries. However based on our experience from the Royal School of Librarianship in Denmark the students are showing less and less interest in job opportunities within the public sector and this is particularly clear when talking about public libraries (as opposed to university and academic libraries). They feel that many public libraries cannot offer them an interesting place of work or exciting new challenges. More often than not they feel that public libraries are not developing fast enough and the chances for an upwardly mobile career are not available.
To some extent the social role of the library - as represented by the concepts of free access to information and freedom of speech - are not so much at the forefront of the debate at the working level. At the same time we see a marked interest from young people in the work of large international organisations working towards common global goals - often based on various aspects of human rights.