I started my career as a cataloger with a Bachelor's degree in History. In China, most of the librarians do not hold an MLIS degree. (Academic libraries tend of hire people holding a degree above Master; while most of the public libraries only require a Bachlor's degree. But MLIS or related degrees are not priorities in most of these libraries. ) I used to think American librarians are highly professional (as the exact opposition with Chinese counterparts), maybe most of them hold at least an MLIS degree. Later, after I read Ken Heycock's The Portable MLIS, I found maybe I was wrong, that there are actually many librarians in the US without an MLIS or parallel degree. But even so, it's obvious that the library environment in the US is still much more professional than in China, even though the reasons of this phenomenon always baffle me since then.
I am and will be grateful to my first career. Because if I wasn't enrolled by the Public Library of China, I may never learn how to transfer my energy and enthusiasm into something constructive, rather than destructive, like what I did as an undergraduate. And I may never get to understand this profession which suits me so well and I fell love so deeply.
However, on the other hand, it may not be the best idea to start a career in a totally unprofessional environment, even though, it's not bragging, I think I did a decent job in China. However, after I was enrolled as a MLIS student, I also realized that I need to cope with many old habits formed in the environment of Chinese library environment.
The one that impressed me most after I arrive at the US is that, I really need to be more social and extrovert. I was an extremely introverted person in the university. And in China, librarians are sometimes seen by the public as a collection of nerds: quiet, "out of society", bibliophilic weirdos with glasses and low-income. (There are many things to talk about in the public's stereotype of librarian in China, which can be comparable with those stereotype in the US on some aspects, while be totally different on others. ) And actually it's kind of a fact that in some libraries, the working environment is really quiet (like the library I used to work). And there are little communication between different librarians (especially catalogers!). This results deep gaps between different person, which makes it really hard to aggregate professional community. Working in such an environment to some extents just maintain (if not strengthen) my unwillingness to communicate with others formed in the university.
This is totally different with the culture in the US. After attending "Academic Librarians 2012" conference, I found that the US librarianship is partly based on sociality. I definitely want to change, but the question is how. I need to learn about how to be sociable. I am still learning about all the codes used in the US, and communication skills are certainly in the center.
Yet another challenge for me is how to become a creator from a translator and "introducer", which I used to be in China. I translated some articles or even reports into China, and wrote a professional blog in Chinese to introduce the latest trends and news in the US library land. Part of the reasons is that I believe in sharism; on the other hand, it also helps me to grasp the latest trend happened not only in the US, but also around the world. (I still don't have a clear distinction between US librarianship and global librarianship, which I think is an interesting topic to explore.) However, on the other hand, I am clearly aware that, the point to be a librarian is not only to follow the trend, but also to create them. Following trend just need reading ability at most, however, it need much more for a librarian to do great things based on what's happening around.
You can say, communication and professional skills (of which, communication is one) are the two things I am thinking about most as an MLIS student.
(to be continued.)
The one that impressed me most after I arrive at the US is that, I really need to be more social and extrovert. I was an extremely introverted person in the university. And in China, librarians are sometimes seen by the public as a collection of nerds: quiet, "out of society", bibliophilic weirdos with glasses and low-income. (There are many things to talk about in the public's stereotype of librarian in China, which can be comparable with those stereotype in the US on some aspects, while be totally different on others. ) And actually it's kind of a fact that in some libraries, the working environment is really quiet (like the library I used to work). And there are little communication between different librarians (especially catalogers!). This results deep gaps between different person, which makes it really hard to aggregate professional community. Working in such an environment to some extents just maintain (if not strengthen) my unwillingness to communicate with others formed in the university.
This is totally different with the culture in the US. After attending "Academic Librarians 2012" conference, I found that the US librarianship is partly based on sociality. I definitely want to change, but the question is how. I need to learn about how to be sociable. I am still learning about all the codes used in the US, and communication skills are certainly in the center.
Yet another challenge for me is how to become a creator from a translator and "introducer", which I used to be in China. I translated some articles or even reports into China, and wrote a professional blog in Chinese to introduce the latest trends and news in the US library land. Part of the reasons is that I believe in sharism; on the other hand, it also helps me to grasp the latest trend happened not only in the US, but also around the world. (I still don't have a clear distinction between US librarianship and global librarianship, which I think is an interesting topic to explore.) However, on the other hand, I am clearly aware that, the point to be a librarian is not only to follow the trend, but also to create them. Following trend just need reading ability at most, however, it need much more for a librarian to do great things based on what's happening around.
You can say, communication and professional skills (of which, communication is one) are the two things I am thinking about most as an MLIS student.
(to be continued.)
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