Page 22 - Training for Librarianship Library Work As a Career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

library science, on skill and special informa-
tion which can best be obtained through
proper training.
When Thomas Edison was asked not long
ago whether invention could be taught, he
replied that it could. This incident typifies
the modern conception of scientific research
as contrasted with the attitude of the last
century toward invention. In the same way,
the attitude toward training for librarianship
of the librarian of the past and the librarian
of to-day may be taken as one of the out-
standing differences between the old libra-
rianship and the new. Men born with a
natural genius for any particular vocation
are few ; even with them genius is little more
than aptitude for hard work. The many
must and always will have to submit to prep-
aration and special training for their life
work. Fortunately librarianship is a profes-
sion calling for qualities and aptitudes so
various as to open it to many differing types
of persons, and also to both men and women.
What is the worker in the modern library
called upon to do, and why is special training
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