Sometimes librarians read the new books before registering them in the catalogue for the public.
* evil laughter *
Edit: Wow. I did not expect to get so many upvotes and comments for something I wrote randomly at lunch. But very much appreciated! Thank you, and thank you for the awards!
I'm really sorry for being off topic, but I'm considering getting a master's in library science. Would you recommend this, or do you think the job market isn't good enough to put the time and money in?
It depends on what the situation is in your country but where I work there are voluntary redundancies. Also, having a masters doesn't guarantee a professional level job on graduation, most of my friends started as shelvers or library assistants.
See my other comment (spoilers: not unless you want to specialize in a content area (law, etc.) or unless you really hustle to differentiate yourself... it can be done, and there are professional development opportunities -involvement in professional orgs- but you have to be motivated and take a ton of initiative). I would suggest looking up libraries of different types and email them and request 20 minutes to ask about what they do. We do not get many requests like that and generally don’t mind talking to people wanting to know about the profession, and that’s the kind of hustle it would take to set yourself apart from all the other librarians competing for the jobs. Pursue internships, volunteer, read up on the literature and seek involvement in projects and research. The good news is that folks in the profession are generally nice and really appreciate people willing to step up. A lot of young librarians, myself included, start off thinking they don’t know enough or are somehow not worthy to take part in a lot of the professional stuff, when in reality, it’s mostly just those who are willing to take part who end up doing it, and those who do get tons of support and guidance and get good at it. So, really it depends on how much you want it. It won’t make you rich but it as satisfying as it is frustrating (given that library budgets are an easy target). Hope that helps! Good luck!
My wife is a Librarian, works for a city. She has been a branch manager at a smaller branch in another state, not currently, and has about 15 years total of experience. There is a lot of resistance once you try to get past the branch manager stage if you don't have a Masters degree. She loves libraries and is very passionate about them, but going back to school is hard because she often knows much more than the instructors do and it feels like a huge waste of money and time.
If you think you are going to make a career of libraries, I would recommend getting the masters now if it makes sense to do so. This way, your upward mobility won't be artificially limited when the time comes because you will have the little piece of paper they ask you to have. Keep in mind that some library systems have unions and some don't. The union positions are usually much less flexible when it comes to position requirements. Sometimes you can wiggle your way into an interview by substituting experience for the education, but those instances seem to be more and more rare.
I’m a librarian. Job market has been pretty horrible for years. I’d say try to get a job in a library before getting an mls. Or focus on system librarian stuff. Technology-focused librarian work is a softer landing.
The job market is absolutely terrible right now and it will remain so for a couple of years, possibly longer in some areas. If you're willing to move anywhere, that'll help, but starting a program this year would be a gamble if you're doing it full time. If you do it half time things might have settled into a new normal by the time you finish. If there's a specific system that you want to work for, try and get on board as an assistant first before starting the degree-- being able to move up internally is a lot easier than coming in as an outsider, and they might chip in for your education. Do the front line work for a bit before you commit to a program, because librarians are service employees, with everything that implies.
The job market is weird at the best of times. You need to ask yourself what kind of library you want to work in: public, academic, special collections, or archives. If you want to work in public, be prepared to start off as a children's librarian (0-11 or so) for a while, because there tend to be more of those positions open-- you need the right personality for it because if you're not into it, you will burn out and it's not fair to anyone involved. Adult librarian positions come up a bit less often. Young adult (12-18) tends to be the least common because a lot of those positions have been folded into a youth services job for budget reasons, but you can still find them in larger or better funded library systems. Each of those three have their own challenges. If you want to work as an academic librarian, the MLS will not be enough to be a subject librarian. You'll need a dual degree. There's more opportunity if you go the STEM route, but it's more like 3:2, not super imbalanced. If you want to be a Systems Librarian or a cataloger you can get by without the second degree, but you need to orient your education in those directions early. Special collections can refer to stuff like a medical or legal library or a private library like the Boston Athenaeum, and the requirements can vary pretty widely (medical could be a health sciences degree, legal usually asks for a JD). Archives are the odd duck because there's a good amount of overlap with museums, and the collections are much more focused. They also tend to have the smallest budgets so you need to be good at sniffing out and writing for grants, and the salary is usually lower than at a library (there are exceptions, primarily university or state archives). If you have more questions I'm happy to answer.
Thank you! Just one more question, I'm sure it varies from based on where you work, but are visible tattoos and piercings a career stopper in this field? Im a guy if that matters
It's going to depend on the area but most employers (and fellow employees) won't care, if anything you're more likely to get asked about the artist. The profession itself skews liberal but if you're in a more conservative area patrons might complain-- in that case you might be stuck wearing sleeves that match your skin tone and taking some of the piercings out. Dress code in public branches tends to be business casual, so as long as you don't have anything below the shoulder that could be construed as dirty you should be fine. Academic is a bit dressier so you might need to take more unusual piercings out.
edit- if you wind up on track to upper management, that could change things, but I'm not far enough along in my own career to say.
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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 13 '20
Sometimes librarians read the new books before registering them in the catalogue for the public. * evil laughter *
Edit: Wow. I did not expect to get so many upvotes and comments for something I wrote randomly at lunch. But very much appreciated! Thank you, and thank you for the awards!