What is the best way of dealing with the Librarians in Metro 2033?

There are a few ways to easily deal with the librarians.

The Pacifist

Remember what Miller tells you about the Librarians:

• They will only attack when provoked.
• You must maintain eye-contact with them at all times. In other words, keep your cross-hair aimed at his eyes.
• Do not move towards them. That will be an act of aggression and they will attack you.
• If they do start coming towards you (not in an aggressive manner), slowly walk backwards.
• When they walk right up to your face and scream and bang their fists, they are just showing their dominance. Keep eye contact, remain calm and continue to slowly walk backwards, never towards them.
• Do not turn your back to them; they will see that as a cowardly act and attack you.

Once the Librarian is done showing off, you can simply walk through their territory. This Youtube vid shows the pacifist method

The Aggressor

Use the Librarian's animal instincts against them:

1. Have your shotgun loaded and ready.
2. Allow the Librarian to get right up into your face by using the Pacifist method.
3. When you see the white their eyes, fire a couple of quick rounds off with the shotgun. Should take just a couple to the head, especially when they are so close you can feel their breath on your face.

Alternate Method: If you are paying attention in the Library, you'll notice a number of arrows in the walls. The arrows are a hint...

1. Bring a Helsing into the Library.
2. Pump the Helsing up to maximum pressure.
3. Fire off a few rounds into the Librarian.
4. Librarian dies. You pick up the arrows and use them on the next beast.

Remember, Librarians are our friends. They're just pissed off that someone screwed up their Dewey Decimal cards.

Figured it out after a while, wow these guys are tough.

They are called librarians and the best way to kill them seems to be a bunch of arrows from an overpumped helsing to the head while dodging backwards and to either side. Their attack is mostly a forward swipe motion and 2-3 hard hits will kill you (I was wearing a stealth suit at the time), but its easy to dodge once you get it down. And never ever fight more than 1 at a time, that's just asking for trouble.

you can just run past all of them... they have very limited aggro area and will not chase much.