I May Become a Li-Berrian. Need Advice and Encouragement.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Y’see, this is why I am keeping my current job while going for a degree. I am not planning to show up unemployed, all bright-eyed like Ruby Keeler with a suitcase and tapshoes and go, “I have a degree–give me a job!”

As far as why library science, I think it’s something I’d like (being an histiorian and book- and museum-lover at heart) and something I’d be good at (being an obsessive list-maker and organizer).

As for “being looked down on”–hell, I am a copy editor. I spend my life sweeping up the grammar and punctuation of girls half my age with one-tenth my abilities. The literary equivalent of the little guy with the pail who follows the elephants in the parade. I am used to being looked down on.

42

OK, first my credentials:
IAAL (I Am A Librarian)
I finished my MLS in 1995
I started my first job as an actual librarian in 2003 :eek:

Everyone’s experience varies, but this was mine:

I had to borrow the money to go to library school. Luckily the federal student loan program was there to aid me. Unluckily I didn’t get a good interest rate because I didn’t qualify for the subsidized loan program. I made too much money at my $16k per year job. :rolleyes:
In 2005 I will have finally paid off my loans and that will be weird.

The program I chose (Simmons College in Boston) was NOT what I would consider an academically challenging program by any stretch of the imagination. And people always claim it’s a well-respected program. The classes were ridiculously easy, some of my classmates were dolts, the school didn’t have the resources to be teaching some of the “high-tech” classes they offered; in general I didn’t have a lot of respect for their program. They didn’t teach me anything there that I hadn’t already learned on the job as a library assistant, but getting an MLS is a necessary evil in order to be a professional librarian, so I just tried to keep my mouth shut about it and do my coursework. On the upside, I met a lot of really great people (librarianship is full of them), and generally had a great time being a young grad student in Boston.

I had trouble getting a professional position after graduating for several reasons. Chief among them were my unwillingness to locate, too narrow a focus on the type of position I would apply for, and in general not being a very good interviewee. I am sooo much better at the interview process now that I have some rofessional & personal confidence. :smiley:

I took a position working for a software company that sold big honkin’ online library systems, doing tech support for one of their systems. Again met a bunch of great people, both in the vendor world and in the library world, moved out of doing tech support into training, QA & demos at trade shows. Downside: the corporate world was exasperating and frustrating. Upside: I had a great time, traveled to Canada, Australia & all around the US on the company dime, and made a little more money than I would have as a librarian. Oh, and I met my husband.

Meanwhile I had a part-time job on weekends at a local graduate school library and in 2003 parlayed that into a full-time position as their Systems Librarian & Tech Services head. So a mere 8 years after finishing my MLS, I am working as a full-time librarian. At many points in those 8 years I could have looked for a job as a Librarian, but didn’t, so don’t take this as an indication of how tough the job market is. It was a choice I made.

OK, 'nuff with the life story. Do I have any words of wsdom for you as a potential member-of-the-club?

  1. If you’re interested in working as a librarian in museums, historical-societies & the like, do at least some introductory archivist coursework. Archives is a branch of librarianship with a specific skillset and separate coursework. You may not have to be an archivist to work in a museum or historical society library, but some coursework in it could be very helpful when applying for a job.

  2. If you’re not willing to relocate, be prepared with a job you can fall back on while you look for a library job where you currently live, because it might take a while. Sounds like you have that part covered.

  3. While you’re in library school, get a part-time job in a library, archives, etc if you at all can. Even if it’s just 4 hours a week, or unpaid. You start building a collection of potential professional references in the field AND you’ll learn a lot. Oh, and it’s also easier to get these part-time jobs as a library student, because the employer knows you’ll work cheap and be willing to learn to do all kinds of stuff that needs to be done around the library.

  4. Learn the secret handshake. I can’t give you details, but it involves library paste.

I’m sure I’ll think of more, but that’s all that come to mind at the moment.

43

Umm…no. None of us are graduating until this coming May, 2004 (please re-read my first post if necessary). The one who is not applying has her own reasons for not yet applying to places that I didn’t and still don’t feel the need to go into.

All of us (with the possible exception of that one) expect to have jobs when we graduate in May, or very shortly thereafter. Well within the 6 month grace period for student loan repayment.
Much better job prospects then when I finished my undergrad back in 1995 and it took 7 months after graduation to find full-time employment.

44

I forgot to include the encouragement part.

Do it!

I doubt very much that you’d regret it from a professional fulfillment perspective. Maybe financially if you have to go into debt to do it, but you’re not exactly getting rich at your current job, right? :smiley:

Do it!

45

Thanks, Eve, for starting this thread. I am working to get into an MLIS program here in Chicago in the fall and leave my soul-sucking job behind for the world of books, and I’m really excited about it. All the encouragement in this thread has made me even more excited. Good luck!

46

“There is an application form on ouir company web site that must be filled out and signed by you and your management. To this form a course description must be attached. This application should be approved before paying for the course, but if you have paid already, attach a proof of payment. When I have received your proof of payment, you will receive 42% of your tuition cost ONLY. We do not pay for books, fees, etc. Just tuition. When I receive proof that you’ve completed the class with a grade of C or above, you receive the remaining 43% of the tuition cost.”

Woo-hoo! I am definitely holding onto my job (if I can . . .).

47

Well, my bestest friend from high school studied to be a TV producer and has worked freelance on corporate projects for quite a while. But she always wanted to get into documentary work. She finally landed a gig producing Storm Stories. She said they have libraries at these places. THAT might be an interesting gig. If you could get into a company that produces biographies related to your background, you’d be in Old Movie HeavenTM. Just a thought.

I’m planning on being a greeter at WalMart when the time comes. I’ll just shove those carts at the shoppers and bid them a good day.

48

I’m so glad you started this thread. I just requested some information on the program from University of North Texas.

49

Great, just what I need—more competition on the job market . . .

50

I’ll bet she’s 23 and just brimming with youthful enthusiasm, too!

51

There are two in Queens according to the ALA directory: St. John’s University in Jamaica (a Catholic school) and Queens College in Flushing (a division of CUNY). As a public school, Queens College would probably be cheaper than the Pratt Institute in you live in New York. If you live in N.J., Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey also has an accredited program.

52

I actually hope to work as a school librarian.

53

Someone mentioned the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s LEEP program, and as a recent graduate I definitely endorse it. I was able to go through the entire program in only 2 semesters. You spend 2 weeks on campus during the summer, then make a 3-5 day trip to campus once a semester. Otherwise everything is done on-line. The IT support staff and the professors are top notch; you have instructors from all around the world. A very nice experience, though the program is starting to emphasize the technical, programming aspects a little too heavily for my taste, with the result being that some classes resemble a computer science course. For the most part, however, the MLS is a fairly easy degree to obtain and requires shockingly little in the way of written work. And there were no tests. If you’ve been through a masters program in another Arts and Sciences field, you’ll probably find any MLS program a breeze by comparison.

I was working as a part-time Reference librarian when I started the program and it took only a few months after obtaining the MLS to get a terrific full-time job at a public library. Average pay in Colorado is about $40k without previous experience; most of the universities pay a little less than that, but of course you get a lot of extra perks if you pursue academic librarianship. You’ll almost certainly need a second masters degree to do so, however.

I love librarianship. My other masters is in English, so it’s a good match. It allows me to pursue all my interests like writing and research and doesn’t tire me out at the end of the day. Above all there is a genuine sense of having helped people. My present position caters to the young adult crowd which is even more rewarding as far as I’m concerned.

The job market is generally pretty solid. The American Library Association has been getting stricter with its accreditation procedures, resulting in fewer degree programs. Colorado does not have any state-based institution accredited with the ALA (an unaccredited degree is fairly worthless, by the way). The University of Arizona’s library school program had its accreditation stripped a while back, but I understand it has recovered it. Internet-based learning is becoming a popular way of obtaining this degree, and I think U of Pitt and Syracuse are now offering the MLS online with no campus trip required at all.

Of course it’s important to decide what you want. Do you like helping people directly or are you more interested in being away from the public? People who are customer service-oriented will like Reference or Children’s services; others may enjoy being in an office cataloging new books all day. Then there is a host of specialty positions, such as archives, museum work and history collections. The degree gives you a lot of options.

54

Oh, as far away from the public as possible—I can’t stand the public. It’s full of people.

55

I haven’t read the previous posts as I’m in a rush, so pardon any repetition.

After majoring in electives* in undergrad and drifting for a decade I got my MLS in 2000 and have never regretted it. You certainly don’t get rich but you DO get health insurance and you don’t starve either. More importantly, it’s an excellent job for weaving your own research interests with your rentpaying ability. There’s some bureaucracy, but that’s in any business and for all the reputation of cutthroat campuses I have NEVER encountered politics anywhere near as dirty at a university as I did in the corporate world, and there is a lot to recommend living in college towns and working with college students.

Since I’m bound to a three-state area in the south due to family matters I only know what jobs pay here, but http://lisjobs.com is a good site to get an overview of salary and job availability. If you’re free to relocate you can get to almost any region of the nation that you like (there are exceptions, such as the Research Triangle, where the market’s glutted).
(*One reason I don’t have a Ph.D. is that my research passions are too fluid. For two years I’ll be passionate about archaeology [especially some dig in Canada nobody’s ever heard of], then I’ll switch to literature [particularly some Inuit poet nobody’s ever heard of], then to modern communications in religion [particularly in some Vietnamese sect nobody’s ever heard of], etc… If there were Research Transmitted Diseases I’d be Keith Richards because I’m way too promiscuous where my interests are concerned.

56

PS- There was an article in the last issue of Library Journal about “Librarians who write” and how the careers complement each other. link

As for money, always remember that Fafsa is your friend and get you’se’f a Federal Direct Loan now while the money’s still there. (Thanks to the really low interest rates at the moment, my payments on $20,000 in student loans are less than $100 per month.)