(CNN) – Libraries in the US have long been community fixtures, providing gathering spaces along with public access to books and information.And at the center of these hubs are your local librarians, juggling reference requests while helping patrons find reliable resources.In honor of National Library Week, which runs from April 7-13, here are some facts about librarians that might surprise you.
1. They serve more customers than your local movie theater according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, around 1.3 billion people visit public libraries every year, more than the 1.24 billion movie theater admissions in 2017. These readers will probably tell you the book is better than the movie, too.
2. There are more of them than you might think according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 126,800 librarians in the US. New York has the most, with 12,360 librarians.
4. They help preserve your favorite musicThe Library of Congress has been preserving recordings in the National Recording Registry since 2002. Latest additions included hip-hop group Run-DMC’s 1986 album “Raising Hell,” Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 album “Rumours” and the soundtrack to “The Sound of Music.”
5. Their job prospects are on the rise Employment of librarians is expected to grow 9% by 2026. Some 12,000 jobs are projected to open as communities look to librarians for a variety of information services.
6. They have left their mark on history former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, author Lewis Carroll, former first lady Laura Bush, and China’s Mao Zedong all worked as librarians or in libraries.
7. They are trusted resources according to a Pew Research Center poll, 78% of American adults feel that public libraries help them find reliable sources.
8. They sometimes watch over historic artifacts The New York Public Library contains around 46 million items, though not all of them are books. It houses a 16th-century globe, an original copy of the Bill of Rights, and a Honus Wagner baseball card largely considered to be one of the rarest in the world.
9. Working in a library used to be considered too intense for women At the end of the 19th century, library work was considered to be too overwhelming for women, and in 1900, the Brooklyn Public Library Association proposed building “a seaside rest home for those who had broken down in library service.” Melvil Dewey, who invented the Dewey Decimal System, also believed women would have a hard time working in libraries because of their supposed poor health. Thankfully, these ideas began to disappear around the 1920s.
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Continuing her travels across Ethiopia, U.S. Ambassador Geeta Pasi visited Hawassa on October 29. During her daylong visit, she met with business leaders, workers, students, university leaders, and journalists. The Ambassador reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the people of Ethiopia and touched on AGOA, noting the shared goal of both countries to retain this benefit…READ MORE
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October 2021 is the 5th anniversary of my blog / website
I started blogging in October 2017 when I was Chief Librarian at College of Law & Governance, Hawassa University, Ethiopia. I created a professional blog/website currently entitled:[MULUGETA] 21st Century Information Retrieval & Dissemination Network [Library & Information Service] Professional Blog/Website. I used one of the most popular blogging platforms called WordPress, which “now ‘powers’ over a fifth of the internet.” WordPress is very easy to use and is very popular with bloggers and businesses looking to create identifiable brand desires.
Prior to that, in August 2016, I created a quarterly published currently named Link-Up e-Newsletter of Librarianship & Information Technology; I finally designed my blog/website as a primary form of communication with Hawassa University community and, eventually, the outside world. I chose my blog/website as my format because I found it easy to use and share with others.
I sent my blog/website links every three months by private email to the university community and elsewhere, along with the Link- Up quarterly newsletter.Feedback and comments from recipients/readers of Link-Up e-Newsletter were always very positive. This is a great way to connect with students, academic staff, researchers, and other staff inside and outside the university. Above all, it is also an important tool for building international professional networking and partnerships with colleagues around the world.
Here are links of six posts selected from the 16 posts that posted when I started blogging in October 2017:
The library system of Hawassa University consists of the following eight libraries: School of Natural and Computational Sciences, School of Social Sciences and Humanities…etc
EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) welcomes the news that all three journals of the Institute of Education Research of Addis Ababa University are now available in open access (OA)
My blog/website statistics are slowly evolving. The following figure outlines the statistical data for the last 5 years (31 October 2017 – 31 October 2021.
Countries by Map
Counttries with their flag
Stats with world map and countries flag
Stats and Insights
Blog stats seem to be getting more traffic than usual! Views every 29 hours Average views every 2 hours, blog statistics now reach almost 40,000 views.
Benefits of Blog/Website
Blogging has many advantages, both professionally and personally. On a professional basis, it not only allows you to create and manage your identity but also makes your parent institution/organization visible around the world. My blog is now the hub of everything I do professionally. Use of my blog/website; I have all my professional careers at hand. Having a blog with your name on itwill also point people in the right direction when searching for you. This will help other professionals learn more about your work and hopefully share your best practices.
Blogging will teach you many things. At first glance, you’ll learn the basic technical skills needed to publish your work online. By blogging and sharing your professional activities and others’ works; you can connect with other professionals in your field. By reading, sharing, and understanding the perspectives of others, you will become more informed and involved in your librarianship profession and academic community.
Through my blog/website, I have added a new follower to my business social media channel called Mulugeta: Library and Information Service. I have built up true friendships and positive professional relationships and have become a better librarian. If you stick to the blog long enough, you will build a devoted group of followers for idea exchange.
One of the most exciting moments for an extroverted librarian like me is attending an online conference or webinar. Other librarians say they really enjoyed reading my blog and website. It’s a feeling that never gets old, and it’s a great way to make connections that benefit everyone.
Your blog can serve as your resume in many ways. It is a professional portfolio to show you when you are looking for employment in a new location or industry. If you use it as the basis for everything you do professionally, you will only get positive results.
Librarians Should Have Blog/Website
My advice as a 21st-century librarian is to start by creating a blog/website to share ideas, skills, experiences, and knowledge and as well as to promote library and information services. The blog definitely made my career better. It connected me with my professional colleagues around the world in ways I never expected. It provided me with some new career advancements and it enables me to run and perform my professional activities which benefits my parent institution i.e.Hawassa University and the surrounding communitiesin a thoughtful and effective way using a 21st-century tech landscape via online platforms, this a way forward to be impact librarian rather than being routine librarian.
My hope is that others or my colleagues will enjoy the same experience if they are prompted to start their own blog/website after reading this.
To conclude, I take hats off to everyone who has given me your comment (via my blog/website comment menu, email & telephone..etc) pertinent to my blog posts.
Celeberating the 5th Anniversary of my blog/website, I would like to congratulate the Library World Tour Project [Mario Cofa] who Celebrating the 40 stages of the Library World Tour .
Happy #OpenAccessWeek to all library and information workers. Happening tomorrow, October 26, 2020, @ 12noon UTC/GMT, the Library Education and Training Institutions Section of AfLIA will host a webinar to share interesting insights from an open-access study recently conducted.
Attendees will learn more about the status of open access awareness and engagement of LIS scholars, academics, and professionals in Africa, understand their roles in creating greater awareness and engagement in #OA, and share information and knowledge about scientific publishing and Open Access to librarians, students, emerging career and established researchers and other stakeholders including publishers.
Details – https://web.aflia.net/2021-oaweek-aflia-celebrations-to…/Resource person: Ms. Andiswa Mfengu, Lecturer, Department of Knowledge and Information Stewardship, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Vice-Chair of AfLIA Library Education & Training Institutions, Chapter Assembly Representative for the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Africa Chapter.
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International Professional Networking among Librarians or Information Professionals Worldwide.
The Library World Tour Project was developed and designed in Italy by Mario Coffa and is currently expanding its horizons of international professional networking activities around the world…
The Library World Tour project was recently launched to create an international network among librarians or information professionals from around the world to share ideas, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will benefit their profession, organization, and country. Over the years I have had the opportunity to collect several interviews with librarians and librarians from different parts of the world who have, with their voices, made a valuable and strong contribution to the work of many libraries around the world...VISIT THE PROJECT
International Federation of Library Association [IFLA]
Sharing and learning from global perspectives to inspire the library field – check out our interview with Mario Coffa about his Library World Tour project!
Innovation in European Academic Libraries – Leadership Perspective
Liisi Lembinen, the Director of Development in Tartu University Library (Estonia), has published a research article “Innovation in European Academic Libraries – Leadership Perspective”.The research value is a reference for further studies and other academic library directors in library innovation. It gives a better understanding of how library directors approach, encourage and manage innovation in their libraries….SEE MORE
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21st Century Information & Library Network 
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