Roles and responsibilities vary widely depending on the type of library, the specialty of the librarian, and the functions needed to maintain collections and make them available to its users.

King Charles V of France began his own library, and he kept his collection as a bibliophile, an attribute that is closely connected to librarians of this time.

[12] During the 16th century, the idea of creating a Bibliotheca Universalis, a universal listing of all printed books, emerged from well-established academics and librarians: Conrad Gessner, Gabriel Naudé, John Dury, and Gottfried Leibniz.

[16] Another key figure of this time, Sir Thomas Bodley, gave up his career as a diplomat and established Oxford's Bodleian library.

In 18th-century France, two librarians, Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon and Joseph Van Praet, selected and identified over 300,000 books and manuscripts that became the property of the people in the Bibliothèque Nationale.

[23] In the United Kingdom, evidence suggests that the Conservative government began replacing professional librarians with unpaid volunteers in 2015–2016.

[24] During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in 2020, many librarians were temporarily displaced as libraries across the country were affected by a nationwide shutdown in efforts to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 disease.

[33][34][35] Librarians also supported their community in other ways, such as staffing non-emergency hotlines and manning shelters for the homeless, for which they were able to retain their income,[36] while others were furloughed for a time.

Electronic information has transformed the roles and responsibilities of librarians, even to the point of revolutionizing library education and service expectations.

Instruction librarians teach information literacy skills in face-to-face classes or through the creation of online learning objects.

Outreach librarians are charged with providing library and information services for underrepresented groups, such as people with disabilities, low-income neighborhoods, home bound adults and seniors, incarcerated and ex-offenders, and homeless and rural communities.

Licensing for library/media teacher includes a Bachelor or Master of Arts in Teaching and additional higher-level course work in library science.

[58][59] Basic categories of workplace settings for librarians are routinely classified around the world as: public, academic, school, and special.

In addition to library administration, certificated teacher-librarians instruct individual students, groups and classes, and faculty in effective research methods, often referred to as information literacy skills.

In an increasingly global and virtual workplace, many special librarians may not even work in a library at all but instead manage and facilitate the use of electronic collections.

[citation needed] In the United States and Canada, a librarian generally has a one or two-year (more common) master's degree in library science from an accredited university.

In addition to having a degree that meets ALIA's accreditation process, teacher librarians must also hold recognized teaching qualifications.

The same could be said of other technology developments, from electronic databases (including the Internet), to logistical functions such as bar codes (or in the near future RFID).

Librarians must continually adapt to new formats for information, such as electronic journals and e-books, which present both challenges and opportunities in providing access and promoting them to library patrons.

[85] Because of the robot's extremely limited function, its introduction into libraries poses little risk of the employment of librarians, whose duties are not defined by menial tasks such as the retrieval of books.

Recently over 100 libraries in the United States have begun adding 3D printers to their collections in an effort to expose the public to cutting-edge technology.

Another important activist organization is the Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section[98] of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL).

Librarians in the United States who as political actors in our times provide examples of a commitment to equality, the right to know or social justice include Peter Chase, George Christian, Janet Nocek, and Barbara Bailey.

In the Doe v. Gonzales case, these librarians challenged the constitutionality of the nondisclosure provisions of the National Security Letters issued by the government under the USA Patriot Act in terrorist or other investigations.

[102] Librarianship grew into a female-dominated sphere in the late 19th century due to the lower value of women's wages in comparison to men's.

In 1911, Theresa Elmendorf became the first woman elected president of the American Library Association (which had been founded in 1876), serving in that office for just over a year.

The Association also encourages librarians to proactively support the First Amendment rights of all library users, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.

ALA encourages all American Library Association chapters to take active stands against all legislative or other government attempts to proscribe materials related to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression; and encourages all libraries to acquire and make available materials representative of all the people in our society.

When disabled communities began demanding equality in the 1970s, Hagemeyer decided to go back to school for her master's degree in library science.

[127] Over the years, library services have begun to evolve in order to accommodate the needs and desires of local Deaf communities.