Job Descriptions of Government Librarians in Pakistan

Libraries all over the world are facing diversified service challenges posed by a mix of traditional information seekers and Google generation’s call of technology features. These multi-facet demands and kinds of users’ community have increased the list of responsibilities and skills required by the librarians. Selection of right person for the right job is the greatest challenge for library administration. This includes two main elements; nature of job descriptions defined or advertised by the administration and the availability of required human resources in the market. Only the right mix of these two essentials can ensure the selection of appropriate personnel for the delivery of high quality services to the diversified user community. Specific job description is not well practiced in Pakistan especially in the government sector, which mostly results in the hiring of inappropriate personnel in the government libraries. No such study has been conducted to-date to find out the status of librarians’ job descriptions advertised by the government hiring agencies. Keeping this need in view, this study aims at reviewing the current library job descriptions in government sector; their strengths and weaknesses; characterized skills and qualifications needed by specific type of libraries in IT era. An analysis of 212 job ads published in selected newspapers and list-serves over a period of three years (2007 to 2010) was conducted to understand the current market trends. Personal interviews were also conducted for better understanding of the phenomena under study. Findings of the study can be directly useful for the government employers and library employees in Pakistan, students for career selection, LIS educationists for curriculum revision and researchers for further research. The study will also assist the government officials in inducting the right persons for challenging jobs in the libraries