'Sexy' Librarian

[Deryn]

So I'm jumping through a lot of majors right now (English, Architecture, Writing, Real Estate, etc.) since I'm going to a junior college and have the ability to test out the waters and I think I may have found something I could do. Library Sciences. Its books, computers, and information sourcing. All things I like.

But I keep researching the field on the computer and come across: 1/3 follow your dreams no matter what, 1/3 don't do this, there aren't many jobs and who knows where libraries will be in a few years when you graduate, and 1/3 if you're dedicated and flexible enough finding a job is easy.

I have no idea what to think. Anyone know anything particular about this field or just finding that one career that rings true? Is it worth it?

[OrphanPip]

From what I know of it, second hand from people who have done it, is that there are different levels of librarians. There are some that are post-graduate diplomas/Masters and others that are sort of junior college technical training programs. Depending on what kind of education you have, and from what school, your job prospects will be radically different.

In general though, I'm a supporter of the go for your dreams route, because if you're good at what you do there is always going to be some job for you somewhere (if not always directly). And the best way to be good at what you do is to love what you do. Unless you really want job security, then become an engineer or accountant.

Edit: As a graduate student all career advice I give should be taken with a grain of salt since I'm pretty much a useless drain on family and the public with no real career prospects beyond perpetuating academia :p.

[Pix]

I've been a library volunteer and have known librarians (not just the ones where I volunteered) and read some professional library journals and from what I've gained on that I'd say be sure to have your MLS because those without one are the first to be cut when there's a budget cut, and budget cuts are common because politicians know that while voters won't raise their pay and pay for many other of their pet projects that they can just take it from schools and libraries and voters will usually vote more money to these institutions (though this doesn't always happen, especially when politicians become especially brazen about looting schools & libraries, even if it's for putting it into schools and libraries of a much more populated area).

I've thought about becoming a librarian, and I do think there's a future there because libraries are just too useful to those who know how to use them and quick to adapt to the times, plus it seems most librarians (at least with a MLS) are boomers and thus as they retire more will be needed to replace them.

But library boards tend to be toxic, and according to an article I read in a library journal it's a problem across the nation where otherwise rational people get together and become dysfunctional and do more to harm than to help libraries. The one library board I personally had experience with was, I'm certain, just trying to create emergencies to justify their existence with one nonsensical decree after another (and then finding a scapegoat when the predictable results they were warned about happened). And when I left about half of the other volunteers also quit, and one librarian chose to take her retirement because she was sick of their BS, too, which led to their next episode of epic stupidity where they outdid themselves but I don't want to explain that.

Then there's the patrons, though I suppose that's just to be expected. I'm not sure if my "favorite" was a teacher who not only couldn't use the Dewey Decimal System but liked to assign her students to read a book she refused to provide and that the library only had a couple of copies of or the mother & little girl who ran the stolen book detector with a stolen library book only to be chased down by a librarian, the book gotten back, and the mother come in the next day and admit to the director that she willfully stole that book but that the librarian had no business coming after her and demanded the librarian be fired (the director didn't, but he didn't destroy the woman's library card as I'd have done, either, and suggested to the librarian that the next time he call the cops even though the cops almost certainly wouldn't do anything). Lots of street people tend to show up at many libraries, too, and while most of them are ok there are a few who are in bad need of a bath and/or should be in an institution rather than on the streets. I personally find all this tolerable if sometimes exasperating but I am letting you know.

Oh yes, beware of people who promise to volunteer when you absolutely need them to. The way I became a volunteer is that the library planned a summer reading program for children with only 2 librarians who were expecting volunteers, but every single person (about a dozen) who promised to show up didn't and one of the librarians called me in a panic as they had over 20 kids, and so I became one (and remained for months after the reading program ended until the insanity of the library board ticked me off too much for me to continue). That program ran us ragged because it needed at least 6 (and preferably twice that) rather than just us 3. One memory that is still clear after 12 years is when I had to help get 20 little kids cross a busy highway (we went to the beach) both ways, and getting 20 of them to do that (when some are as young as 4) quickly had me fantasizing about having them in a chain gang and urging them across before the light changed with a whip. Babysitting all those kids on the beach wasn't easy either, but that had all been planned when the librarians thought they were going to have plenty of volunteers. (Still, it got me a glowing hot reference that made it possible for me to help entertain at children's birthday parties which has been profitable for me over the years.)

Oh, and one of the many, many stupid things the library board did was object to Harry Potter being the book chosen to read at the summer reading program to the children (as we decided that it would appeal to all age groups, which it did) and have accompanying activities (like making wizard hats) as it was "satanic" and bothered some parents (though not enough to pull their kids out of the free babysitting service, nor enough to volunteer so they could "witness" while giving us badly needed help or give us another book that would appeal to 4-11-year-olds). It got so insane that when a librarian put on a wizard hat the lawyer (and Christian fundie) on the board averted his eyes (apparently fearing her demonic powers). And btw, the board got more insane and obnoxious than that.

Obviously it's going to make a difference what library you work at, and many are happy as librarians. My only advice is to be ready for things like what I described and have a MLS as protection against being fired (not that it will guarantee you a job).

[pellaz]

hard copy anything has a very bad future.
its difficult to figure a whole institution will go away and they will struggle for a time but the hard copy product is dead.

if you can learn a second language
look at some aspect of legal law office environments and or health care

[Deryn]

Wow... thanks Pix. That was certainly helpfully detailed. And now I'm thinking that I might hold off on any MLS classes and focus on the last General Ed I need and maybe volunteer down at a library, talk to the people who work there and all that. Get a feel for it before I dive into another class I drop before the semester is over. Why something as simple as that never occurred to me is just a testament to my poor planning skills. I really need to work on that.

And to Pellaz, I am nearly fluent in Spanish (6 years of class, woo! Just need to brush up on more of the obscure nouns that don't come up in easy conversations), and I really don't think I could work law. I went to jury duty and the whole thing was overwhelming. I have a feeling I'd be just as overwhelmed in medicine. I do not think I could handle having something as important as a person's life or freedom in my hands, no matter how stable the fields are.

[ceez]

I agree with OrpanPip, if you don't go into something you're interested in you might end up in a job you hate. my interest is technology and right now any degree in technology can get you a wide variety of jobs. a guy I graduated with who also received an engineering degree landed a job as a web developer so you never know what opportunity will come up once you've graduated.

[Deryn]

But I don't really know what I'm interested in enough that I could do it day in and day out. My favorite things right now are reading and sleeping and those are kind of hard to make a career out of.

The issue is I'm actually pretty content as I am right now, not enough that I want to make a career out of my retail job. I definitely would not be happy with that. But I just don't want anything bad enough to make the change right now.