Duration of the training course
- 3 years
- Intermediate examination after one-and-a-half years.
The programme is based on Germany's ‘dual system’ of vocational training: The on-the-job training which trainees receive at the library (ZB MED's sites in Cologne and Bonn) is supplemented by theoretical classroom instruction at the vocational college Joseph-DuMont-Berufskolleg in Cologne.
Content of the training course
Areas covered by the official course Syllabus (in German) include the following:
Media processing and handling
- Acquisition and indexing of monographs and periodicals
- Formal and subject cataloguing of media holdings
- Library processes, book care, stack work
User and information services
- Granting/cancelling borrowing privileges in the library
- Instructing library users in how to use the library and providing advice on services and available media
- Processing loans, returns, extensions, overdue reminders, and reservations
- Applying library regulations and scales of fees and charges
- Providing media through various delivery systems (inter-library loans)