This document defines librarianship and outlines its history and roles. It begins by defining a profession as a paid occupation requiring specialized training and qualifications. Librarianship is then defined as the administration of library resources and services, involving acquiring and organizing collections, and servicing users. The document traces the history of librarianship from ancient collections in Mesopotamia and Alexandria to its professionalization in the 19th century. It outlines the roles of modern librarians in areas like reference, collections, instruction, and technical services in both physical and digital libraries.

2. DEFINE PROFESSION?
 A paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training
and a formal qualification.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a profession as;
 Profession is connected with a job that needs special training or skill, especially
one that needs a high level of education professional qualifications/skills

3. LIBRARIANSHIP
 A profession concerned with acquiring and organizing collections of books
and related materials in libraries and servicing readers and others with these
resources. the position or duties of a librarian.
 The professional administration of library resources and services.
 The position of librarian. Related Words. berth, billet, office, place,
position, post, situation, spot. (Webster)

4.  The art and science of managing libraries are called “Librarianship”. The
essential function of librarianship is to make available “information” in its
widest sense, serving leisure as well as work needs, for the benefit of
people seeking day to day information. Librarianship essentially concerns
the problem of storage, retrieval and access to documents, in other words,
information.
It basically refers to:
 Document collection development.
 Technical processing for the organization of documents.
 Providing reference and bibliographic access to documents.
 Providing physical facilities for reading.

5. Historical Phases of librarianship
 Ancient History
 Middle Ages
 Enlightenment era
 Modern era

6. Ancient History
 The Sumerians were the first to train clerks to keep records of
accounts. "Masters of the books" or "Keepers of the Tablets" were
scribes or priests who were trained to handle the vast amount and
complexity of these records. The extent of their specific duties is
unknown.
 In the 8th century BC, Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, created a library at
his palace in Nineveh in Mesopotamia. Ashurbanipal was the first
individual in history to introduce librarianship as a profession.
 The Great Library of Alexandria, created by Ptolemy I after the death
of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, was created to house the entirety
of Greek literature.

7.  Callimachus created the first subject catalogue of the library
holdings, called the pinakes. The pinakes contained 120 scrolls
arranged into ten subject classes; each class was then subdivided,
listing authors alphabetically by titles .The librarians at Alexandria
were considered the "custodians of learning”.
 Near the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of
the Roman Empire, it was common for Roman aristocrats to
hold private libraries in their home. Many of these aristocrats, such
as Cicero, kept the contents of their private libraries to themselves,
only boasting of the enormity of his collection. Others, such
as Lucullus, took on the role of lending librarian by sharing scrolls
in their collection

8. Middle Ages
 Christian monasteries in Europe are credited with keeping
the institution of libraries alive after the fall of the Roman Empire.
 Classification and organization of books during this period was
generally done by subject and alphabetically, with materials
inventoried using basic check lists. Later in the period, individuals
known as librarius began more formal cataloguing, inventory, and
classification.
 In the 14th century, universities began to reemerge which had libraries
and employed librarians. At the same time royalty, nobles
and jurists began to establish libraries of their own as status symbols.

9.  King Charles V of France began his own library, and he kept his
collection as a bibliophile, an attribute that is closely connected
to librarians of this time.
 Materials in European libraries were mostly restricted, the
libraries were open to the public. Librarians were needed to plan
and organize libraries to meet public needs. A tool to achieve
these organizational goals, the first library catalog, appeared in
1595.

10. Enlightenment era
 John Dury is considered to be the first English library theorist. He wrote two letters
to Samuel Hartlib concerning the duties of a professional librarian, which were
published in 1650 as "The Reformed Librarie-Keeper". He held that librarians
should not only care for the books, but should also be well educated and
accomplished to raise the standards of librarianship. Furthermore, he advocated that
librarians deserve a living wage in order to use their energy to perform their duties
to the fullest extent.
 In 18th-century France, two librarians, Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon and Joseph Van
Praet, selected and identified over 300,000 books and manuscripts that became the
property of the people in the Bibliothèque Nationale. During the French Revolution,
librarians assumed sole responsibility for selecting books for use by all citizen of
the nation. Out of this action came the implementation of the concept of modern
library service: the democratic extension of library services to the general public,
regardless of wealth or education.

11. In Modern era
 While there were full-time librarians in the 18th century, the
professionalization of the library role was a 19th-century development, as
shown by its first training school, its first university school, and its first
professional associations and licensing procedures.
 1920, women and men were equally numerous in the library profession, but
women pulled ahead by 1930 and comprised 80% by 1960.The factors
accounting for the transition included the demographic losses of the First
World War.
 In the United Kingdom, evidence suggests that the Conservative
government began replacing professional librarians with unpaid volunteers
in 2015–2016.

12. Roles of library professionals in the
digital Era
 To provide intellectual access to information in any format
 To evaluate available sources of information
 To organize and structure information
 To ensure the preservation of information
 To provide specialized staff to offer instruction and
assistance in interpreting resources and access to resources

13. Role of a librarian
Positions and duties
Specific duties vary depending on the size and type of library. Most librarians
spend their time working in one of the following areas of a library:
 Archivists can be specialized librarians who deal with archival materials, such as
manuscripts, documents and records, though this varies from country to country,
and there are other routes to the archival profession.
 Collection development or acquisitions librarians monitor the selection of books
and electronic resources.
 Electronic resources librarians manage the databas es that libraries license
from third-party vendors.
 School librarians work in school libraries and perform duties as teachers,
information technology specialists, and advocates for literacy.

14.  Instruction librarians teach information literacy skills in face-to-face classes or
through the creation of online learning objects. They instruct library users on how
to find, evaluate, and use information effectively. They are most common in
academic libraries.
 Public service librarians work with the public, frequently at the reference desk of
lending libraries. Some specialize in serving adults or children.
 Children's librarians provide appropriate material for children at all age levels,
include pre-readers, conduct specialized programs and work with the children (and
often their parents) to help foster interest and competence in the young reader.
 Reference or research librarians help people doing research to find the information
they need, through a structured conversation called a reference interview. The help
may take the form of research on a specific question, providing direction on the
use of databases and other electronic information resources; obtaining specialized
materials from other sources; or providing access to and care of delicate or
expensive materials.

15.  Technical service librarians work "behind the scenes" ordering library
materials and database subscriptions, computers and other equipment, and
supervise the cataloging and physical processing of new materials.
 A young adult librarian specifically serves patrons who are between 12 and
18 years old. Young adults are those patrons that look to library services to
give them direction and guidance toward recreation, education. A young
adult librarian could work in several different institutions; one might be a
school library/media teacher, a member of a public library team, or a
librarian in a penal institution.
 Licensing for Library teacher includes a Bachelor or Master of Arts in
Teaching and additional higher-level course work in library science. YA
librarians who work in public libraries are expected to have a master's
degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS), relevant work
experience, or a related credential.

16. Pioneers of Librarianship in Pakistan
Each and Every Professional worked Hard for The better Future of
Librarianship in Pakistan and they proved themselves as a great leader in the
world in library profession.
 K.B. Asadullah received the title of Khan Bahadur from the British
government.
 Prof. Dr Abdul Moeed is considered the father of librarianship in Pakistan.
 Professor Anis Khurshid was the father of modern librarianship in Pakistan
and he also received the Presidential Award from the Government of
Pakistan in recognition of his services in the field of librarianship in
Pakistan.

17. Conclusion
 Librarianship as a profession needs specialized knowledge, skill with
creative ability. A person acquiring such skills and abilities can be called an
exact professional. In recent years technology has made tremendous impact
on every profession including Librarianship. This spurt of technology has
brought dramatic changes in every sphere of library activity. The library
professionals, as intermediaries, have to be cope with the "knowledge
explosion" which is a result of the information technology and high
expectations of the users. New skills and knowledge will have to be
acquired and the existing skills will have to be enhanced to survive and face
the challenges in this dynamic information society

18. References
 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/librari
an
 http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Librarianship
 Abbas, June. “The library profession and the Internet: Implications and
scenarios for change” Katharine Sharp Review, Summer 1997.
 Coyle,K(2000). “Change, change. change: libraries and the future.” The
Australian library Journal 49(1), pp.27-30.
 "YALSA". Archived from the original on February 12, 2011.
Retrieved April 1, 2011.
 "The librarian's Internet survival guide: strategies for the high-tech
reference desk", Irene E. McDermott, Barbara E. Quint, p. 1-2,
Information Today, ISBN 1-57387-129-X
 "Public Library Association". American Library Association. Archived
from the original on 2007-04-20. Retrieved 2008-09-