The skills every library professional should have

In order to deliver exemplary service to patrons, library professionals must have both knowledge of specific library services as well as of general professional skills that make them strong leaders and communicators, capable of helping library staff to improve their own performance and providing excellent customer service to everyone who visits the library. In this article, we will look at some of the most important skills that every library professional should have in order to excel in the workplace and be able to help others do the same.

Learn how to communicate

All library jobs require excellent communication skills, so make sure you’re comfortable communicating in writing, verbally, and electronically. This is especially important because working in a library means communicating with people from all over the world. Learning how to use programs like Skype, Google Hangouts and other video conferencing software will prepare you for job opportunities that may involve remote employees and meetings. Personal Improvements: Learning new software is an ongoing process for all librarians—whether you’re just getting started or an experienced professional.

Learn how to learn

Many librarians can easily rattle off a list of software and web tools they use on a daily basis: social media management programs, citation management systems, library catalogs, and reservation systems. Personal improvements are another familiar category of knowledge—librarians are well aware that continued education is necessary to keep their knowledge base up-to-date. But there’s another set of skills that many libraries don’t explicitly teach: personal improvement skills.

Learn how to contribute

Like any profession, there’s a range of software skills you’ll need to do your job well. If you don’t know how to code or use technical tools like Adobe Creative Suite or Survey Monkey, learn them. You won’t be behind for long. As more libraries are starting to integrate digital and physical spaces, digital technology will become a crucial part of public service—and your responsibilities as a librarian will expand because of it.

Update your computer skills

Whether you’re an IT pro or just a library employee who spends hours each day on your computer, you should always make it a point to update your software and learn about current trends in technology. Software changes rapidly, so you might not be aware of how outdated your current knowledge is until it comes time to make a change. Keeping up-to-date on new technologies helps ensure that when anything breaks down, you know exactly what to do to fix it or help others with issues.

Update your software skill

Technology may change rapidly in other fields, but when it comes to libraries, what you’ll be doing next year will probably be much like what you do today. That is why keeping your software skills up-to-date is one of your most important responsibilities as a librarian. Stay current with new programs by learning how to use them yourself or by searching for webinars and tutorials. Ask colleagues for tips and advice, too—most library employees are eager to share their expertise with others.

Why Personal Branding is more Important than ever

Up to an era products or few companies were called brands but It has been changed now. each person becomes each brand in this time.

The importance of personal branding is very huge in this era. that’s why I’m discussing Personal Branding in this blogpost

What is Personal Branding?
Who does need Personal Branding?
How do a person can create Personal Branding?

What is Personal Branding?

Simply, personal branding is nothing but how do you promote yourself. It is the conscious and intensional effort to create, influence the public perception of an individual.

Perception and Promise are the two “P”s in personal branding. what does perception mean? and what does promise mean?

Perception is the picture in the minds of others regarding you and your brand. whereas promises are the things that you offer to your audience. This can be any service or products etc.

Who does need Personal Branding?

It is important to have a personal brand for each and every person in this era. It doesn’t matter whether you are a professional, businessman, or an artist. by creating a personal brand you will mainly get the following three benefits.

Position yourself: you will be able to create a position of yourself in your professional space.

Demonstrate your knowledge and skills: with a personal brand you can showcase your skills and knowledge

Improve visibility and reputation: by creating a personal brand, you can extend your visibility and reputation in your professional field

before creating a personal brand, you need to realize the current level of you, in order to realize the level, the following factors can be taken into consideration.

Internal expert: you need to be an expert in your workspace, expert in the sense of trying and reaching into new experiments. and you should also reveal your expertise outside of your workspace.

Be a local hero: that means, it is the developing stage of being an expert or brand within your local region, district, or even state.

Become a national-level player: It is simply, perceptualizing your brand among the minds of people throughout a nation.

the last one is, Becoming a global star: here you familiarise your brand to the entire world.

How do we develop personal branding?

A personal brand needs to be constructed so that it is easily articulated in an online environment, as well as clearly communicated verbally.

Start thinking of yourself as brand

You are already done when you started thinking of yourself as a brand. nobody will pull you out to do it. so start by yourself.

Make a brand image

Be ready to create an image that depicts you and your services. in order to create a brand image, the following questions can be answered.

Who am I?
What can I offer?
Why am I here?

Who am I?: here you decide the name, that should be branded in the minds of others. It should also show what are the unique things that can have the clients/audience from you.

eg: my brand name is Mahesh Palamuttath and my tagline is Linux, FOSS, and Library Technologist. my tagline reveals in what fields I am expert

What can I offer?: here you must showcase your skills and expertise and should have the details of your services with previous pieces of evidence and testimonials from clients/brand viewers.

Why am I here?: here you define the purpose and goals of having a personal brand.

Network and reach people

You should have a clearcut idea about your brand viewers/audience, that can either be co-professionals and you should never ever miss any programs with your audience. the programs can be either workshops/seminars/conclaves, etc. these events will definitely help you to improve your personal branding.

Keep the circle of brand lovers

You should love and maintain the circle of your brand viewers, these can be easily done through creating broadcast channels in instant messaging like WhatsApp/Telegram or even in a blogpost. that circle will enlarge the fame of your personal branding. they may start following you referring you to others etc.

Explore the possibilities of the Internet

You know that internet is the biggest leverage in this era. so internet and other allied social media have to be utilized for enhancing your personal brand.

One more necessary thing for creating a personal brand is that, having a website for yourself. that must include who you are? your bio, activities you participated in, services you offer, testimonials by clients/brand viewers, logo if any, and the tagline.

Along with a personal website, it is better to start a blog where you can write something that is related to your brand/interest. you can use even youtube channels, Linked In, Twitter, Facebook pages, etc, for the same purposes as free.

Thank you

— Mahesh Palamuttath