Questions for librarians who have worked in both academic and public libraries

In My Humble Opinion
1

This is one I reserve the right to bump in a couple of days during “peak time” since it’s so targeted, and I won’t be surprised if there are no responses. However-

I’m wanting to relocate into Georgia. I’m applying for a former position, but there’s also a public library job in (outer) metro Atlanta I’m considering. Save for a 3 month “first job” in a hospital library in Albany, GA I’ve worked exclusively in academic libraries, albeit those have ranged from a tiny for profit “we don’t need no stinkin’ admission standards, we’ll take anybody” school to a huge research library (and b.i.o.n. I preferred the former to the latter).

For those who’ve worked in both, which did you prefer and why? What are your favorite aspects of either over the other?

I think what I’d like in public is the lack of publish or perish environment and the lack of the tenure nonsense, plus the fact you’re dealing more with people who have an interest in their subject matter rather than just needing it for a class (and I actually enjoy helping old ladies do genealogy research). OTOH, you probably have to deal more with Fundies who want Harry Potter off the shelf, half-sane homeless people, and abandoned teenagers as well. However, not having worked in a public library this is only conjecture.

2

Which position is it?

I worked in both public and academic as a cataloger. But I’m talking about cataloging at Cleveland Public Library, which is actually a huge research library and nothing like the average public library. I got lots of satisfying, varied, interesting cataloging work both ways. Probably not what you had in mind. I’m weird–I actually liked being a cataloger. I was good at it. And the rest of you depend on us, so respect us!