WHY STUDY IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES?

Provide services, programs and events that engage and connect your community in meaningful ways.

Create 21st century learners, and knowledgeable and responsible digital citizens.

Meet like-minded people who ‘get’ you, and share similar interests with you.

 

WHY GET QUALIFIED?

 

Best practice

For individuals: Gain a best-practice approach to your work, with highly relevant skills and knowledge.

For organisations: Ensure organisational effectiveness and efficiencies with best-practice approaches that deliver your organisational goals and outcomes.

 

Keep current

For individuals: Future-proof yourself and your career! Learn new ways to engage with your clients and community.

For organisations: Future-proof your library and information services – embrace the 21st century to create a dynamic and exciting environment! Provide additional value to all your stakeholders in a changing sector.

 

Employment

For individuals: Formalise your experience and provide evidence of the level and degree of your expertise. Stand out from the competition and increase your employability.

For organisations: Attract talent! Keep your best talent and create successful succession planning through education.

 

Learning and development

For individuals: Set up a clear path for future learning and development and upgrade your qualifications as your career progresses. Specialise in specific areas and skills that set you apart from others!

For organisations: Improve staff morale, engagement, motivation and retention by providing proactive learning and
development opportunities. Create a learning organisation, with a learning culture. Continuous improvement inspiring better
outcomes for all.

 

Opportunities

For individuals: Open doors to registration and membership with relevant associations, which provide advocacy, campaigns, professional development, resources and information (depending on your qualification). Open up opportunities for new
roles and progression in your current (or a new) workplace!

For organisations: Create the next generation of leaders and managers within your organisation. Deliver a library that seizes all
opportunities to thrive, connect and engage with their staff, clients and all other stakeholders!

WHAT JOBS ARE THERE IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES?

 

Infinite growth opportunities…

The number of possible roles in LIS is branching out, with massive opportunities in both the public and private sector.

Traditional roles:

  • Teacher Librarian
  • Librarian
  • Library Technician
  • Customer Services Officer
  • Library Assistant
  • Information Specialist
  • Learning Spaces Officer
  • Discovery Metadata Coordinator
  • Coordinator Electronic Resource Access
  • Circulation Officer
  • Research Officer
  • Visual Resource Coordinator
  • Patent Searcher
  • Data Researcher
  • Documentation Specialist
  • Program Manager
  • Curator
  • Information Literacy Coordinator
  • Library Digital Infrastructure and Technology Coordinator
  • Community Information Officer
  • Information and Data Professional
  • Research Analyst
  • Digital Archivist
  • Technical Information Specialist
  • Digital Archives Systems Administrator
  • Records Management Coordinator
  • Rare Books and Special Collections
  • Freelance Researcher
  • Digital Manuscripts Project Manager
  • Collections and Facilities Assistant
  • Document Control Specialist and Archivist
  • Children’s and Youth Services Coordinator
  • Programs and Outreach Services Coordinator

The types of places that you can work now include:

  • Public libraries
  • University or TAFE libraries
  • State or National libraries
  • Parliamentary libraries
  • Law libraries
  • Business or Corporate libraries
  • Health libraries
  • Government libraries
  • School libraries
  • Special interest libraries
  • Film/music libraries
  • International libraries
  • Library vendors and suppliers
  • Corporate organisations
  • Museums or other cultural services
  • Archives
  • Information consultancies
  • Research organisations
  • Bookshops

The difference between Library Assistant, Library Technician and Librarian

Whilst there are numerous different roles in LIS, it is important to identify the three traditional roles and the differences between them, as this could influence what study you decide to do. The below is over-simplified, as depending on the job description, skills and experience, many library functions may overlap.

Librarians

Librarians and Teacher Librarians are a professional level role. They usually have university qualifications at undergraduate or postgraduate level, or have been accredited as professionals by a library association. Teacher Librarians must also be teacher/education qualified to perform that function. Librarians typically perform leadership, management and supervisory roles, and advanced reference services in a Library and Information Services context.

Library Technicians

Library Technicians are LIS workers at a paraprofessional level, just below the level of Librarian. They typically hold qualifications at Diploma level and usually work at a high operational level requiring more technical expertise, such as cataloguers or managers of small branch libraries. Their roles can often include supervisory, management or leadership functions.

Library Assistants

Library Assistants, Library Officers or Customer Service Officers may hold a LIS Certificate at Certificate II, Certificate III or Certificate IV levels. Library Assistants may be starting out in the Library and Information Services sector, or they may have supervisory or management responsibilities based on their experience and knowledge. They perform day-to-day operational activities that keep the library running!