An academic librarian manages an academic library, which is a library that is maintained at a university for the use of students and faculty. Academic libraries have some very specific requirements that necessitate specialized training and credentials. Academic librarians typically hold advanced degrees and are graduates of accredited library science programs, especially if they work in specialty libraries.
Being an academic librarian entails a lot more than just shelving books, as it does with other aspects of librarianship. In fact, most academic librarians aren’t involved in the physical shelving process, which is handled less-experienced library workers like work-study students. In order to compete with other academic libraries, the librarian is responsible for maintaining the library’s collections, which must be of the highest quality.
In addition to ordering new books, monitoring the condition of books in the collection, selling and disposing of books that are no longer needed, handling special requests, and providing research assistance, an academic librarian determines which cataloging system should be used and how it should be implemented, or maintains an existing catalog system. Academic librarians may also hire staff, manage staff and library user credentialing, and work with library technology like computers.
Many educational institutions have multiple libraries dedicated to various fields of study, such as a medical library, a music library, a humanities library, and so on. A head librarian who supervises librarians with special skills who are in charge of these special collections on a daily basis may be in charge of the library system. Making budget and policy decisions about the library system as a whole while balancing the needs of individual branches may be part of the head librarian’s responsibilities.
Archives and special collections are available in some academic libraries. Because they are valuable and sometimes irreplaceable, access to them must be strictly controlled. Typically, a specially trained academic librarian is assigned to oversee the handling of these collections, ensuring that they are only accessed authorized users, that people handle them safely, and that the collections are kept in safe conditions with appropriate temperature, humidity, and light levels. These librarians also process new material, including material that has been donated or acquired, and occasionally supervise the sale of special collections to raise funds or reduce the size of collections. Letters, manuscripts, antique maps, books, and works of art are among the materials handled an academic librarian-archivist.