Building on my previous post, I found another analogy that I had scribbled in my notes (from way back in February 2007). Scrawled across the top of my piece of graph paper was “Librarian as translator.” I kind of like that. Think about translators for a minute: What skills do language translators need to do their jobs? Translators need skills like:
- Ability to use translation strategies: translators need to be able to rephrase idioms and other figures of speech and still capture the spirit of the original communication.
- Cultural awareness: translators need to be aware of the cultures on both sides of the translation.
- Knowledge of terminology in specialized fields: translators have to know the jargon (or at least know how to negotiate it).
- Ability to use the tools and rules of translation: translators have to know which tool (e.g. dictionary, software, etc.) to use and how to apply proper grammatical structure.
- Ability to deliver on time: translators need to understand the urgency of the work (and need to deliver competently).
As I scan the bullets above I like what I see. I like the idea of librarians as translators in the Information Age. This is just a short post – you could definitely push this analogy a bit further.
If you’re interested, I paraphrased the above list from here.
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