The librarian is a very ancient profession, more than four and a half thousand years old. It arose with the appearance of the first manuscripts, when society began to realize the need to store knowledge in order to pass it on to their descendants.

  Since ancient times, the librarian was one of the most revered professions and was of great national importance. The first librarians are considered scribes, one of whose main duties was to copy documents. They had to be not only librarians, but partly also lawyers, since the main part of the documents that were compiled on clay tablets contained legal information.

  With the advent of papyrus, there were more and more scribes-librarians. In the era of the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Ramses II had already collected more than 20,000 papyri. Then in the 7th century BC. e. a collection of books of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal appeared. The most experienced scribes were sent to them around the cities of Mesopotamia in order to find and copy valuable books. The library of Ashurbanipal is considered the largest and most famous library of the Ancient World today.

  In ancient Greece, where libraries were predominantly private, slaves served as librarians. But with the advent of the first public library, this profession began to enjoy honor and respect. The position of a librarian could only be held by free citizens. They had to be literally universals, since in the Alexandrian Library, in addition to the book depository and reading rooms, there were also an observatory, zoological and medical museums - their maintenance was also part of the duties of librarians. Many scientists, philosophers, and poets aspired to work in the library. So they could combine service with their own scientific activities. It was in ancient Greece that the very word "librarian" appeared, derived from the Greek "collection of books".

  In ancient Egypt, the position of the library keeper was a state one and was inherited, since it could only be occupied by those admitted to the possession of "higher knowledge".

In Rome, libraries originally performed only a decorative function and were located mainly in country villas. The keepers of such libraries were people from the service staff. But later they became high intellectuals, with whom even the most arrogant patricians did not hesitate to discuss philosophical questions.

  During the Middle Ages, libraries and the functions of librarians developed and improved. At this time libraries were mainly concentrated in monasteries. The monks became the keepers of the books. It is the monastery library that is considered the first library in Russia. This is the library of Yaroslav the Wise, founded in 1037 in Kiev at the St. Sophia Cathedral. Russian libraries, despite their monastic origin, were immediately created as universal ones. This required equally unique knowledge from the librarian-monk. With the advent of orders, there also appeared prikaznye (departmental) libraries, which were already served by special workers - prikaznye clerks. It was the clerk's librarians who grew up in the next century into secular librarians, independent of the state and monastic charters. It was they who laid the foundations of library thought for the entire enlightened 18th century.

  In the era of modern times, society began to realize the greatest need for educated citizens, and this required an ever greater dissemination of knowledge. Since reading was considered the main source of education, and libraries were the organizers of reading, there has been an increase in these institutions. Many monarchs of Europe and their courtiers were true enthusiasts of book reading, so they invested heavily in the arrangement of court libraries, and outstanding scientists of their time were invited to senior positions. Scientific libraries also developed widely.

  In 1714, the first scientific library in Russia was established in St. Petersburg. By that time, librarians had a high reputation. Peter I called them "commanders over academicians." The librarians chaired meetings of the academic council, planned assignments for academicians, listened to reports. Librarians were entrusted with the duty of translating Greek and Latin authors into Russian. All this required a brilliant education. This level of culture allowed librarians to enter high scientific and aristocratic circles. Thanks to this, the profession has become even more respected and, moreover, profitable in terms of career and money. And if in Russia most of these people are known only to a narrow circle of professionals, then in Europe, for example, the great Goethe himself served as a librarian!

  The history of the emergence of libraries on the territory of Belarus began in the 11th century. The first keepers of books were monks and clergymen. The library of the Polotsk Sophia Cathedral is considered the most ancient. Part of the books from the library of Yaroslav the Wise was donated to the library at St. Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk, where librarianship was supervised by Euphrosyne of Polotsk. In 1830, the residents of Grodno were able to become the first visitors to the public library, and the largest book depositories were located in Slutsk, Minsk and Mogilev.