New professional profiles for new public library projects

Abstract

The public library has to be considered as a transversal service cross-linked not only to cultural, but also to social, educational and economic policies. It is a service immersed in numerous social processes of the community. In consequence, public library projects have to be connected to and carried out in cooperation with other municipal policies. This new concept for public libraries implies a consideration of the types of professional profiles required for its successful development. The purpose of this text is to reflect on the needed professional profiles. In public libraries, we cannot talk about just one profile of competencies, but several profiles differentiated according to the different workplaces. As a consequence, we need to talk about the knowledge and skills specifically associated with a profile. This text also considers the benefits of working in public libraries with multidisciplinary teams of information professionals, cultural/community coordinators, social workers, educators, etc.