Training Needs of School Librarians in India

In India the situation of schools, school libraries, and school librarians is in a poor condition as compared to the advanced countries in the world. Most of the schools do not have libraries, and wherever libraries are available, the properly trained manpower is not available to manage those libraries. There are many reasons for this problem including budget, space, resources, manpower, lack of national policies, and standards. One of the problems is lack of proper training to school librarians in Indian library school. The paper reviews the need for school library, UNESCO manifestation of school library, national and international scenarios, school library standards & guidelines, roles, and responsibility of school librarians, and impact of school libraries on students, and teachers. The school library plays an important role on the overall development of the students to transform them into knowledgeable persons. Their reading skills, information seeking skills, and the knowledge about the library resources can be improved due to the school library and the school librarian. So, the need for professionally trained manpower to man these libraries is also discussed.