Requirements and Opportunities of the Librarian's Profession.

We take great pleasure in being able to print the following from a letter of Mr. Justin Winsor on a subject which may be of interest to men who are looking for employment on leaving college:-

"The opportunities of a moderate range are many, but the tendency is for them to be appropriated by women. Those of large experience are much smaller in number, but the chances are increasing. The prizes of considerable moment, as in most professions, are not many in number. The requirements are very various, and, as a rule, it may be stated that no knowledge comes amiss to a librarian. The preferable knowledge depends wholly upon the kind of library he is to control and the sort of people to whom he is to minister. In general terms, I should say that in fitting one's self for work in a miscellaneous library the best thing to be proficient in is literary history and general bibliography. As to languages, one need hardly hope to do his duty without a working knowledge of French and German; and Latin is of great help in dealing with various other languages. There is no language without new help accompanying its acquisition.

"I deem the best preparation to be an apprenticeship in a well-arranged library; but it is not easy to find such opportunities. The oversight and introduction of new people in a library is a disadvantage to that library, as interfering with its work, which few head librarians are willing to encounter unless it is necessary to recruit the library staff. Hence a special department has been instituted at Columbia College in New York, called the school of "Library Economy" which is under the direction of Melville Dewey, the secretary of the American Library Association. They have teachers specially provided for instruction, and they aim to secure a wide recognition of different library methods and principles by providing lectures during the year from some of the principal American librarians. The class is made up of both men and women, and I am told they find opportunities for their graduates easily, but mainly in narrow spheres."