Human resources in libraries – Biblioteca Pública AC.

By Soledad Cecilia Rodríguez

Nowadays there is a constant concern in libraries, mainly to attract new users, promote books and reading, manage the acquisition of books that allow to offer different alternatives for consultation, look for activities that promote recreation and culture, as well as integrate new technologies to provide access to information in an updated way and finally there is a great concern to have the necessary infrastructure that offers a pleasant and comfortable place for our users. However, we rarely stop to really think about the human resources that we have around us and that finally is the one that must work sometimes in adverse conditions, such as lack of resources, lack of furniture and equipment, didactic material for workshops, inadequate infrastructure, poorly lit or reduced environments, etc.; however, we must not forget that they are human beings like any other, who also experience different situations before the different stimuli, interests, opinions, needs and very different moods that leads us to ask ourselves how can we have a committed work team?

It goes without saying that if we manage to have trained, well attended, motivated and sufficiently valued personnel, the response to the assigned work will be of the quality and excellence required to attend and provide a good service to the community.

On the other hand, it is important to be able to analyze that many times the personnel working in libraries do not always have the profession of librarianship, library science or the necessary technical knowledge, since sometimes they are people who have other studies and some of them did not even finish high school. However, it has also been proven in practice that having a profession does not guarantee a better professional performance and that staff with less academic preparation is able to carry out their work with more enthusiasm, commitment and dedication, which gives us an overview that we can develop work projects to motivate and train our staff, so that they feel comfortable and confident to provide service to the public with the same professionalism and conviction as any other.

Finally, and although it may be repetitive, I agree with those who defend that people are the most important asset of organizations and the richest of their resources. Therefore, no library functions or has functioned without at least one person, and this is the main reason that makes people the axis and the heart of its functioning.