Major school complaints: Killed a whole forest of trees (reading articles and classwork.) Some classes boring (near death-boredom.) Challenging. Occassional desire to throttle smart-ass stuck-up classmates. Frequent desire to murder advisor. Got another advisor (they will give you a new one if you complain enough.)
Good points: Actual understanding of difficult concepts. Professors who are knowledgeable. World-class good school.
Career goodies: I got a job less than a month after graduation. I work in a field almost totally unrelated to my areas of specialization (I’m a pediatric consumer health librarian and I also work for a small college. My internship and “ideal career” = public-library reference.) Make decent hourly wage. No major woes, and I learn new things daily. Plus I am largely left alone to my own devices.
Drawbacks: This is not a glamorous job. I spend a lot of time stuffing paper into folders and dusting shelves and cleaning keyboards and other mundane tasks. As a “special library” librarian, it’s all part of my job.
I actually said to a friend, “I might change my name to Marian and become a librarian!” He didn’t get the reference.
Woo hoo!
Okay, first for the basic stuff. What sort of background did you have before entering the program? Was it a tough school to get into?
How long did the degree take you? Are there different types of “library science” degrees? How specialized was your training? Are you qualified for most/all types of library jobs or only a limited subset?
I’m 36. Am I too old for this? Realistically, is it a young person’s course of study?
I have an Master’s of Science in Information Science. I do not have a job as a librarian. There are two reasons for this–I don’t have any library experience so I can’t get a job, and I’m me and therefore unemployable. Well, not really, but I’m a bit down in the dumps right now with regard to this whole job hunt thing. (I’ve been out of school for 2 years–get my fair share of interviews, no job offers).
Background: Got an Bachelor’s degree of some sort? Can you get 1000 combined Math and Verbal on the GRE? Then you can get accepted at library school. It wasn’t hard for me.
About a third of my classmates were English majors, another third History–mostly headed towards archives, and a third were “other” from the art major to the nurse to the engineer.
Too Old? Nah, one of my classmates fought in Vietnam. About a third of my classmates were under twentyfive. A third were twentyfive to thirtysomething and the final third were upper thirties to fiftysomething. Warning–Given that you do not have children(right?) you will stick out like a sore thumb*. Ninety percent of my female classmates over thirty and a goodly few under that mark had children of some age between newborn and college. Getting a job as a librarian seems to be a popular choice for women going back to school.
*It’s not like it’s a problem, and there were several of us who were 30ish, single and mildly depressed. But many of my classmates did have children, and that influenced their career choices.
BA in Psychology. No library experience. Possibly easier for me to get in than most people but the school is large and you have good qualifications.
I did it in 4 semesters, summers off. You can, if you are insane, do it in a shorter amount of time.
Some classes are very specialized but many are general. You have “core” classes that everyone takes then you specialize a little. If you want to be a school or children’s librarian, you’ll do an even more specialized program. Otherwise you can get a job in most any kind of library.
Some jobs (music librarian, law librarian, etc) pretty much require that you already have another degree or other experience. Academic library jobs are often tenure-track and this means that you will be doing lots of research and likely the pursuit of another Master’s degree.
You are SO not too old for this. The program is about 50-50 younger/older.
I’m currently in Library School and I have to say I’m enjoying it so far. Although sadly, my advice won’t apply to Kent State as I live in New York.
The program itself is pretty easy. If you have any kind of computer experience you’ll likely be a step up on many of the other students (computer-based projects seem to be a problem for many), but it’s not required.
At 36, you’d land right in the middle of the age range of one of my classes. I’d say most of us are between 25 and 40 with a decent number of people above (some well above it, the oldest in my class is 60something) that.
It helps tremendously to have library experience before looking for a job, so you can get in somewhere as a Library Clerk (even part time), I highly recommend it.
Eureka, your situation is pretty scary for me. Two years graduated without a job? Ack.
I have a BA in English and History. Haven’t taken the GRE. If I’m reading it right, the Kent State site says that I don’t have to because my grade point was high enough.
I don’t have any problem being around people with kids, and I have no problem standing out in that way. I would rather hate to be twenty years younger than the next oldest person in the course, though.
It’s not actually true that I’ve been out of school for two years without a job–I just don’t have a full-time job in a library doing what I want to do. I have had a job as an adjunct instructor of information literacy for six months in there. But all the job opprtunities I see seem to be for people with 2-3 or more years worth of experience–doing whatever the job in particular requires. And maybe if I applied myself harder, or had a job of somesort now–they say it’s easier to find a job if you have one . . . So don’t think I’m typical- 'cause I’m probably not.
I’ve been using computers for a long time, and have lots of basic skills. But I don’t have any programming skills at all, other than a bit of HTML.
Does your school offer any distance learning? I’ve wondered how that works for people.
My local public library system is so tiny, I don’t know if there would be much of an opportunity for even a part time position, but I will look into it. How about just a volunteer position? Would that look good on a resume?
These are the specializations offered at my school. YMMV at Kent State:
Public Libraries: Just as it sounds. You work in a public library. From there you can further sub-specialize in areas like Technology, Cataloging, Collection Development or Reference. Sub-specilization doesn’t get you any kind of note on your degree and is really just a bunch of classes that build on each other. But I’m told you can use it to brag on your resume that “I’m an expert in XXX!” without having any “formal” experience.
School Library Media Specialist (SLIMS): A librarian for a grade/middle/high school. Story times. Student instruction. Rugrats up to your elbows. The whole nine. Requires almost all of your free elective spaces for special SLIMS classes and (from what I’m told) they are very schoolwork-intensive. I am very purposely avoiding this track.
Academic Libraries: Pretty similar to public libraries. Requires a few more reference classes and an elective or two specifically based around the academic library environment.
Special Libraries: Any other library like a law library or a music library or a corporate library (Microsoft is said to have a huge corporate library). It covers a broad range, but it will be a lot of classes dealing with information management and less with the “dealing with the public” side of it that the other specializations need. Oh, and if you want to go into something really special like music or law you’ll need a lot of extra special classes (possibly ones offered outside the Library School).
My school does offer distance learning and I will be taking my first distance learning class in the fall. I’ve heard good things from those that have tried it, but I’ve also heard that the professors who teach these classes are crazy. Definitely a local thing, but crazy and computers go hand-in-hand.
I’ve been told that any kind of library experience is better than no library experience, so I’d think even volunteer stuff would help a little.
Are you willing to re-locate? I’ve heard from librarians that it can be very difficult to get a job in the field if you live near a library school, since they usually have a glut of graduates who’d like to stay in the area.
A friend is getting his MLS through a distance learning program. He already works in a university library as a tech person, and his supervisor suggested this as a good next step. Frankly, the classes bore the pants off him, but it means a bump up in pay grade when he finishes. I’ve known other people who’ve gotten their MLS and loved every minute of it, though.
I don’t think so: I decided to become a librarian at the age of 27, and I know of others who made the decision well after finishing high school and getting a first degree. In fact, often experience in other areas can be a bonus over someone younger and less-widely experienced.
