Any Librarian Dopers out there? Career advice needed.

In My Humble Opinion
1

In my ongoing quest (20 plus years and counting) of What Should I Do With My Life? ™ I have been toying with the idea of working at the library or in a school’s library. ( I beleive they are called Media Specialist, now)

I need the dirt. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Give it to me straight and tell me just what is needed ( education wise I have no degrees , so I would be starting out from scratch and just how important is it to have a MLS?)

This has been crossing my mind lately because a) I like kids b) books are a grand passion of mind c) I am so at home around libraries d) like people in general. e) job security seems to be fairly good too. f) I wouldn’t mind being in a community oriented job.
Also, to anyone else, anyone every attend an online university and what is your opinion of it?

2

**

It depends on what state you’re in what they require for a School Media Specialist certification. Tennessee, for example, requires a MLS (MSLS, MSIS…) along with certain courses in education. I am currently in library school, but I am not on the school media track. For an overview of the requirements in Tennessee, see here. There are also conditional certifications for people holding a teaching certificate and who are in school to get the school media specialization.

I don’t know if there are reciprocal agreements between states as far as teaching/School media certification, but that information is likely available through your state department of education.

Before you decide to go back to school to do it, why not spend some time volunteering in a school library or talk to several people who are school librarians. There may be some here on the boards, but talking to those in your area may give you a better idea of what things are like in your state.

This I do know about, at least about Distance ed at the school I’m at. My understanding is that we currently have more students in the distance program than the on campus program. The distance students receive the same degree the on campus folks do, there are no concessions (like classes being easier) just because they’re at a distance, they still have to take the comprehensive exam or write a thesis…

I’ve taken some combined classes, and I have a lot of respect for the DE students. They work hard, and many of them work full time as well. We have students here in Tennessee, in Arizona and even one in Alaska.

The DE students are required to come to campus twice, minimum. Once for orientation just before they begin - this gets them familiar with the technology we use for classes and communication between students, and once for either the comprehensive exam or their thesis defense. They are welcome to come any other time - some summer classes are not offered DE, but only meet for one week during the summer, so some come into town for those. The orientation gives them a chance to get to know each other, put faces with names and the like. From what I see, the DE students really seem to develop a community, particularly among those students who come in together.

The ALA has information on programs (not just DE, but all) here.

3

If you live in CA: you need a teacher’s credential, plus an LMC credential (a few more classes). No MLS required. Also, you need a school district that actually wants to hire librarians. Many, many school libraries in CA are being run almost completely by clerks, who need no qualifications, may work only a few hours a week, and are not paid as teachers.

Job security, hah! Not here. The local school district once had one librarian for all 16 elementaries, and one for each jr. and sr. high school, for a total of 6. Now it has two: one in each high school. Other districts are shutting down or not building school libraries, since “teachers have books in their rooms” and “you can find everything on the Internet.”

So I hope you don’t live in California. No, I’m not bitter, not me.

4

Thanks, genie, I am not in California, but Michigan and in one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. So, I’m fairly sure our libraries ( esp. the ones I frequent) are up and comers in growth and whatnot.

5

I’m an aspiring librarian, so I’ve done a little poking into this area, but it seems like almost all the job offerings I’ve seen require an ML(I)S. Seems like the requirements for school librarians vary a bit from state to state; I’m thinking of Univ. of MD because it offers a specialty in School Library Media w/automatic certification in the state of MD.

6

Is this the same job I’ve heard called “library technical media assistant” (LMTA)? I took a JC course in that subject, because a librarian friend had insisted I do so before she would give me a letter of reference to the UCLA MLS program. The course dealt mainly with certain clerical tasks such as shelving books and “reading shelves”*, but also some more advanced matters such as simple repairs on books. I can’t imagine anyone needs an MLS for that.

*reading shelves=eyeballing the shelves to make sure the books are in order. A mindnumbingly dull task, and I would recommend avoiding any job where you have to do that.

7

Spectre,, the School media specialist programs aren’t the library technician programs. SMS students usually take the same courses as other MLS students, but their electives focus on working with children and young adults, developing programming for them and managing school library media centers. Some also have to take a couple of education courses if they are not licensed to teach.

And I’ve done shelf reading. Mindnumbingly boring isn’t the word. I can do it for an hour at a time, then I have to do something else for a while.

8

Well, I’m glad you don’t live in CA, Shirley. :slight_smile: I guess you’ll have to find out what Michigan requires to really be able to plan. Another idea might be to try getting some experience as a public library clerk, and moving up to library assistant, neither of which requires much in the way of education. You could then take classes to work towards a library training degree of some kind at the same time.

9

I agree absolutely with genie. You can work as an assistant or a clerk, if not in a school library (where budgets are tight), then probably in a public library where there’s a children’s section. In public/community settings, degrees are normally only required for reference work, specialty work (child and youth supervisors), management and perhap

I’d also recommend volunteering. That’s a good way to get your foot in the door and the library may be able to find a position for you.

Some Michigan factoids:

From here.

The MLS comes in when you want money or power. I have mine. :smiley:

10

When you get an MLS, you can punch your own ticket in life!

In California, school librarians actually make a good salary. They just don’t hire many of them.

11

If you want to work in a school library (good luck finding a job) the rules vary by state, as people have indicated. For anything else,* MLS is the way to go. I was tempted to repeat the “good luck” part at * but a lot of people are saying that something like half the librarians will be retiring in the next ten or so years, so maybe there will be openings. (And it seems to me we have had less applicants for jobs in recent years at my place of employment).

I tell people I keep waiting for the internet to be so complete people don’t need the books, microfiche, journals, etc. they can find in libraries, or for the internet to get so transparent that people don’t need help interpreting it. So far no sign I’ll be offered early retirement any time soon.

Which is not to say my job hasn’t changed. When I was in library school (that guy from Georgia was president) a librarian’s duty was to Help People Find Information.

What a laugh, right? Information hides behind every corner and bites you on the heel these days.

Today a librarian’s job is to Help People Interpret Information. I spend a lot of time trying to convince college students that just because something is on the web doesn’t mean it’s true. (google “Lake Michigan Whale Watching” if you want an example.)

Do volunteer in a library. THink less about the work they have you do then the work you see the librarians do. Is it what you want.

And take a look at some of the many library blogs, like lisnews.com
to find out what librarians are thinking about.

Good luck.

Fifteen Iguana

12

Oh well, then, that’s a whole different animal from what I was thinking of.

13

Here are some links & bits o’ information you might find helpful:
The School Library Media Program at the University of Michigan:

http://www.si.umich.edu/academics/lis/school-media.htm
Michigan has a fantastic School of Information program, but you should be aware that library & info science programs vary a lot from school to school. Michigan is heavily into the Information Science part of LIS, and that shapes the curriculum and course offerings. I’ve taken library school courses at both U of IL in Urbana-Champaign and UNC-Chapel Hill. Both are ever so slightly more balanced, but have radically different degree requirements for the MLS or MSLIS as the degree is variously known. At UIUC, you need to take 10 credits to get a MSLIS. You can do this in a calendar year if you’re not picky about what classes you take. It may be harder to do in a year for a school library media specialist person as student teaching is a requirement here. At Chapel Hill, the degree is an automatic 2 years, and you have to go into either the info science track to get a MIS or the library science track to get a MLS. (There’s a third, combined track that requires an extra year, as well.) Plus, at UIUC, your classes are it. At Chapel Hill, you have to take a comprehensive exam in your second year and you have to write a thesis. I did UIUC because I’m a lazy ass. (Actually, I did an MA at Chapel Hill, and decided to do the MSLIS at UIUC because I was tired of flying home for holidays, and because I got a better financial package at UIUC. And because I’m a lazy ass.)
Michigan Teacher Network job site bibliography:

http://mtn.merit.edu/joblistings.html#mi
I’m a librarian in an academic library, so while I could talk to you about library school and librarianship in a general way, I know zippo about being a school media specialist. Wish I could help tell you what it’s like to do that job on a daily basis.

Maybe you could meet with a school library media specialist or two from you area to investigate more.

Or, if you want to talk more, feel free to email me. Good luck with whatever you decide!

14

I don’t know about school libraries, but I’ve been working in the Phoenix Public Library system for three years now. Non-skilled labor, of course.

At least in this system, there are a number of different positions.

Up until a few weeks ago I was a page. Which is where you sort and shelve books. That also counts shelf-reading, cleaning up and other assorted menial tasks. Unskilled, but the pay is alright. All part time.

Right above that are clerks, who do most of the same tasks, but work full-time and are generally given other upkeep tasks that are a little more complicated. Also unskilled, other than a good work record. Full time.

Tangent to these positions are the circulation positions, which I was just promoted to. These involve helping people with their library accounts. Signing them up, dealing with their late fees, and checking them out (at least it was until we got those self check-out machines), and other duties of that like, including check-in. Still unskilled, other than customer service experience. A mixture of full time and part time.

Then we’ve got Library Assistants. This job requires a B.A. in anything. The position involves helping people find books and other reference questions. Also other assorted tasks dealing with handling our collection of books. Also a mixture of part time and full time.

Then we’ve got the Librarians, which is the big thing. All these positions require the Masters of Library Science, and I believe they are all full time, but I could be wrong. Good money, but highly contested positions. Not so highly you couldn’t get the job, but you probably wouldn’t get it right off the bat.

Then you’ve got higher level librarians, which are usually managerial positions, like managing the pages or circs. And above that managing your own library branch. Really good money, but a lot of work.

Then of course there’s Toni Garvey, who runs the whole system. But I don’t think anybody wants to touch that. Now that is a lot of work.

Depending on your education, you can enter any of these positions. If you are really interested, I would recommend just going down to your local library and seeing what work you can get. It is probably not what you expect. At least in the public system, the job is always going to be a lot of customer service. And it’s not like the patrons are all highly educated, reading types. We get a lot of homeless just looking for porn on the computers.

Of course public is a lot different than private or school. Just go down to your local library and check it out. See if you can volunteer, even though they may be selective about even their volunteers. You may find it rewarding or find it’s not for you.

But even working a lesser position may work out in the long run. A guy I work with has been a Clerk for the better part of the year, working his way through his MLS so he can become a Librarian.

I’d sum this up in a nice concluding paragraph, but I’ve rambled for far too long.