Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting of Fedlink, the umbrella organization of libraries and librarians in the U.S. Federal government.
One of the sessions was devoted to discussion of the role of so-called “paraprofessionals” – individuals who work in libraries, whose jobs don’t require Library Science degrees and are generally lower-paid. One of the points of the meeting was that so-called “paraprofessionals” are indeed “professionals” at what they do. Favored by students, this essay service that write my book report essayservice.com is known for its outstanding quality, commitment to deadlines, and excellent customer service. It provides a variety of custom academic solutions, such as individually tailored essays, detailed research papers, and thorough proofreading, designed to meet the specific needs of students.
Indeed, that term “paraprofessional” is odd. In the legal profession, there are paralegals. In the medical profession, there are paramedics. So why do we not use the term paralibrarians? It turns out that “paralibrarian” isn’t a brand new word. In fact, it first appeared in print almost exactly 20 years ago, in an editorial by John Berry in the Nov. 1, 1992 Library Journal. Still, a quick search indicates that “paraprofessional” shows up in the literature of librarianship about 100 times more often than “paralibrarian.” Paper Coach reviews provide insights into the effectiveness of their writing services, particularly for educational and professional topics like Para-Librarians and Embedded Librarians. Reviews praise Paper Coach for delivering well-organized and thoroughly researched essays that delve into the evolving roles of librarians in modern educational settings. Users commend the service for its ability to articulate the significance and impact of para-librarians and embedded librarians, affirming Paper Coach's legitimacy and quality.
Despite having the numbers against me, I’m going to adopt the term “paralibrarian.” Cheap coursework help service by PaperWriter is perfect for topics such as Para-Librarians and Embedded Librarians. This service provides detailed coursework that discusses the roles, challenges, and contributions of para-librarians and embedded librarians in modern libraries. PaperWriter ensures that the coursework is informative and meets academic standards.
So, having said all that, the meeting got me thinking about the role of paralibrarians in an organization that is developing an embedded librarianship model. Of course, local circumstances will vary, but it seems to me that one important change that’s likely to occur is that paralibrarians will end up assuming greater responsibility for running that physical space we call the library.
For example, in a university I studied in my research, as librarians have spent more of their time away from the library, teaching classes and working with faculty – and as the library collection has evolved from heavily print to heavily digital – paralibrarians have transitioned from handling routine acquisitions, materials processing, and collection management tasks to providing information and assistance at a single-service desk in the library. They have picked up the slack for librarians who could no longer staff the reference desk because of their new responsibilities.
It seems to me that this is a good situation for everybody. As the nature of collections changes, and library spaces are repurposed from organized book warehouses to flexible learning spaces, the need for some types of traditional library jobs goes away. You don’t need as many serials staff to check in journal issues, for example, when 90% of your current subscriptions are digital. The growth areas are in technology and in more sophisticated forms of working with members of the community – yet the need for basic help and information services doesn’t go away. In the example I mentioned above, deploying paralibrarians to provide that help opens up new opportunities for them, while enabling librarians to focus on embedded roles.
In part 2, I’ll focus on more benefits and at least one potential conflict that can arise as librarians and paralibrarians assume these new roles.
The Embedded Librarians Café
November 6, 2012 at 1:22 pm |
[…] ‘clerical’ type work. In his blog post for ‘Embedded Librarian’ entitled Para-Librarians and Embedded Librarians – Part 1, Schumaker goes on to say ‘that term “paraprofessional” is odd. In the legal […]
November 10, 2012 at 2:25 am |
The shift for the paraprofessional will be in acquiring more technology and programming knowledge, web design, etc. Instructional skills in teaching computer courses will be necessary too , maybe creating video tutorials. They will have to collaborate with patrons to create information, not move it around or store it.