Do you need to know Latin…to be a rare books cataloguer?

摘要

This is a question I’ve been asked several times recently, by work experience volunteers who are interested in a career in Special Collections/rare books librarianship, or by people trying to find that elusive first professional post in those areas. A while ago I wrote a blog post on this subject, and this is an updated version of that post. My initial reaction to the question was “Yes, but…”, because so much depends on the collections you are looking after. I also don’t know the figures for jobs that are solely rare books cataloguing, and jobs that also involve other elements of work, such as working with readers, promotional activities and preservation. Many rare books libraries are very small, and may employ few staff so cataloguing may not be the only part of the job. The CILIP Rare Books & Special Collections Group has a document on skills for rare books librarians on their Careers page, 1 which mentions the need to have language skills to help you manage and research your collection, and that increasingly users themselves may not know Latin so will need your help. However, if you look after a modern special collection, Latin is going to be much less useful than other skills. Some rare books job adverts will make knowing Latin an essential or at least desirable selection criterion, but others won’t. For instance, one of my previous jobs had knowledge of Latin or a European language as a desirable criterion, but not essential. So, not knowing Latin won’t necessarily stop you getting a job as a rare books cataloguer, but it might count against you if you’re competing against other candidates who have Latin, and it might limit the jobs for which you can apply. Over the course of a career, knowing Latin surely has to be a good thing as most pre-1800 rare book collections are going to include a proportion of books in Latin? Is it less important than a knowledge of historical bibliography? Possibly. After all, you can’t catalogue any pre-1800 book (whatever language it is in) without some knowledge at least in historical bibliography.