BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

WITH a relatively low number of library professionals in Brunei, there is a need to raise awareness about librarianship among youth to spur their interest in such a career.

An education officer at Politeknik Brunei, Nurul Rasyidah Ab Durahman, yesterday underscored the importance of raising awareness about the role of librarians in the midst of information communications technology (ICT) development.

“We need to create the awareness so that students will have a better understanding about the library profession,” said Nurul Rasyidah, adding that a librarian is not merely somebody who stands behind the counter or stamp library books.

She said the previous conference on ‘Libraries Transform’, which was jointly organised by the Brunei Darussalam Library Association (BLA) and Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) last month, had been beneficial in which she described as “a wake-up call” for better library services and what needs to be taught to students.

In order to become a librarian, she said, a person is required to have qualifications.

Among Brunei’s educational institutions that offer library courses include Politeknik Brunei, where students can take a Level 5 Diploma in Library Informatics and Computing for three years, including a six-month student attachment; and the Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE) Sultan Saiful Rijal Campus that offers Higher National Technical Education Certificates (HNTec) in Information and Library Studies for two years, including a three-month industrial attachment.

When taking library courses at Politeknik Brunei, students will learn various subjects such as digital library, systems analysis and design, and customer relations and services. The students will also learn about system analysis and design as well as collection development and management, she said.

“We need to retain librarians,” she said, adding that youth nowadays are the ones who will take over the older generation once they retire.

In efforts to make the library profession more appealing as a career to young people, she said, Politeknik Brunei has been actively participating in education fairs and also paying visits to different educational institutions not only in the country, but also in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia.

In addition, some modules or courses will also be upgraded in the future to keep abreast with the development of the library as technology evolves, she added.

The Brunei Times