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The Library & Information Science Professional's Career Development Center |
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Love It! Developing Psychological Skills to Become a Better Librarian |
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I once came across an essay called “How to Value Life?” The answer was simple: act as you would when raising a child – love it! This statement - “love it!” - can be fully applied to the work of librarians. By loving our profession and our patrons, we can become better librarians. Even professionals who don’t work in direct contact with readers should have an interest in helping people. Librarianship is a people-centered profession, so developing psychological and interpersonal skills will improve a librarian’s everyday communication with students, colleagues and faculty. It will help him to know himself, control his emotions, behave professionally, and fit in with his team. Patrons Librarians not only meet people but also try to get to know them better. They serve as mediators between information and patrons who use that information. Librarians should view patrons not only as statistical units but as living human beings with individual peculiarities and intellectual needs. All library users differ greatly. Patrons possess different temperaments and character traits. One may be shy, taciturn and introverted, while another is extroverted, talkative, confident, and perhaps even rude. Treat every one of these patrons in a different way and adjust your approach to their behavior. Look the individual in the eye as you talk with him or her. Work together to meet the patron’s needs. If possible, work with readers individually and shower them with so much attention that you will encourage them to visit the library again. Empathy This ability to feel what others feel, as described above, is called empathy. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines empathy as “the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, ideas and actions.” This is the equivalent of resonance in the physical sciences. To be empathetic, a librarian should strive to be responsive, openhearted, and helpful. Empathy is a skill that you must work at to improve. Like other skills, it may be innate, but it can also be learned. One method of developing empathy is to increase your positive emotions and feelings about other people. First, it is good if you possess a sharp eye and an innate gift for observing people. If you don’t, try to carefully examine people (both colleagues and patrons) and their reactions, conversations, and moods. Try to find the best characteristic a person has, and whenever you approach that person, remind yourself of that attractive quality in his or her character. This particular person will perceive this positive emotion and will feel welcome and accepted. This rapport will improve communication and remove barriers between you and other people. Second, remember that theory is very different from practice. Reading about human behavior is not the same as working with living people. Don’t be afraid to discard the theory (even that of the best authors) if it does not work. How Can I Develop Psychological Skills? At a library presentation I recently attended, Rebecca Larkin from ProQuest said, ”Only librarians like to search. Everyone wants to find.” This statement can be applied to the process of acquiring psychological skills. By using your own professional ability to find information, to search for knowledge, and to read with a purpose, you will accumulate these important skills. Psychology is the science that answers questions about our inner world as unique individuals. According to the Penguin Dictionary of Psychology (1985), “psychology tries to fulfill the need to understand the minds and behaviors of various organisms from the most primitive to the most complex.” Examining research on the psychology of personality will improve our interpersonal communication skills. You know how to search for information that you need, so expand your research interests to the field of psychology and try to put your new knowledge into practice at work. Listening and the Reference Interview Patience and good listening skills are very important. Practicing both skills at work will help you better understand the reader’s question and the person himself. And a smiling face helps any interpersonal encounter! I consider myself a good listener. When a patron asks for information, I listen carefully without interrupting him, no matter how long he speaks. Then I think for a while and answer the question. The patron’s response shows me if he is satisfied and can continue his research alone or if it is necessary for me to ask more questions in order to suggest the right search strategy. Each reader behaves differently in a reference interview. Some ask more questions, some accept the original answers, and some simply don’t want long explanations or conversations with the librarians. A librarian must possess tact, alertness and professionalism to differentiate between readers who want more help and interaction, and those who don’t. Some users need very little support in the process of finding information. I personally have two ways of handling the patron who does not wish to continue a long reference interview. First, I simply stop the conversation. I offer encouragement and withdraw. If the patron does not manage to find the information, I’m sure he will come back later, so I just leave him to investigate by himself. Second, I may offer him literature that may not exactly answer his inquiry (perhaps something that may be relevant or may be written by the same author). He may be satisfied, although I may feel this is not the best service I could provide. However, there are other patrons with whom I talk at length. That conversation helps me to reach the core of the question, to refine the search so that I can give the best answer. Teaching Teaching is another crucial part of the librarian’s work. Strong psychological and pedagogical skills are essential, as teaching and interpersonal communication are inseparable parts of a librarian’s job. Librarians teach their patrons skills for locating resources available inside and outside of the library. And how can you teach people effectively without being concerned for them and understanding them? Positive Emotions Finally, librarians should try to be good as a whole: good professionals, good colleagues, good friends, good parents, and good human beings. Inspired by positive emotions - that is, a love for fellow human beings - a librarian will be able to work effectively and have time for self-improvement. Developing psychological skills will not only take your professionalism to a higher level, it will also improve your whole personality. Milena Ivanova Nikolova is a Junior Assistant Librarian in the Periodicals Section of the Library of the American University in Bulgaria. She holds an Associate Degree in Library Science and Bibliography from a two-year Public Librarian’s College in Sofia and a Bachelor's Degree in Bulgarian and English Philology from Plovdiv University. She has five years of work experience as a librarian in large public and academic libraries. Article published August 2004 Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer editors.
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Page last updated
10/03/2005
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