Page 169 - Training for librarianship; library work as a career
P. 169

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

       mation, and the ability to condense this into
       a clear, short, yet complete monogi^aph, kept
       constantly up to date,   is necessary.   The
       preparation of such reports and descriptive
       bibliographies  is an important function of
       the technical hbrarian.
         A prominent technical librarian, C. B.
       Fairchild, of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit
       Company, has said:  "  It is a real job for any
      man or woman.     It calls for breadth of vision,
      highly specialized training, a degree of Uter-
      ary capacity, infinite patience, a non-quench-
      able cheerfulness, and, above all, the analyti-
      cal instinct. The library itself is not the chief
      requisite, but rather the knowledge of where
      and how the essential information can be
      obtained.   The sources of information to be
      utihzed are myriad, and I stop to mention
      only two as typical, namely, the columns of
      the technical magazines and correspondence
      with other specializing librarians."
         That the next decade will see the establish-
      ment in industry, by individual manufac-
      turers, corporations or associations of techni-
      cal and engineering libraries on a large scale
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