The best job I ever had was as a librarian. I was a Student Assistant in my university’s library back in Texas when I was an undergrad. Maybe I was not a “real” librarian, but I did much the same work as the librarians and thoroughly enjoyed it. Four years. And during the summer breaks, I even worked it full-time (except for the time I went to Europe).
One of my fellow Student Assistants moved to Albuquerque after graduation and really did become a librarian in that city’s system. During my brief time living in Albuquerque, he tried to get me a job, too, but there was a city hiring freeze back then. If he’d have succeeded, I might still be there today.
I’m at Kent State currently pursuing their dual degree option with MLIS & IAKM. I have a BA in English Lit and was actually pursuing a grad degree in Arthurian Lit at Kent before I was randomly assigned to their distance learning freshman English classes and realized I liked computers more than I like teaching English. Which is my story and probably doesn’t interest you much.
But the dual degree program at Kent is definitely worth a serious look. You leave with the normal MLIS degree and also a full MS Info Science. Having masters degrees in both fields should open lots of doors. Also, the profs in both departments are well connected and seem to know everybody. For example, this last spring they had the head of IBM’s web presence in for a panel discussion on usability issues.
Info Architecture and Knowledge Management are both still small fields but they’re growing in importance. Also, there really aren’t a whole lot of universities offering courses like this, so I think combined with the traditional Library Sci degree they offer a great opportunity.
Anyway, good luck with your studies! Librarianship is a pretty awesome choice no matter which path you take once you’re in.
Perry - pshh…My mother works in Vinton. I went to school there, too, but I’m down in Scioto going to college right now. We’re trying to get me done so I can move back, maybe towards Athens county, or Lancaster area…
There are some big employers of librarians in the Columbus area, including Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio State University and OCLC. However, I’m not sure that makes it all that easier for a beginning librarian to get a job: the job market is still pretty competitive.
It’s true that there is a lot of competition. I guess it is basically my perspective - in my hometown (where my mom is the HS Librarian for the one HS in the county), there are schools (5 of them k-12) and one public library. Basically, the hopes of being more than a low-paid employee at the public one is to wait out the current higher-ups who are heading toward retirement and try to take their position. If that isn’t your cup of tea, it’s about 40 minutes to Ohio U. (35 to the nearest public library - about the same situation).
Columbus may have a lot of competition, but there are also a ton more jobs there than in most places in Ohio - IMHO - because there are also private companies there that are large enough to need a librarian/archiver type person. Plus, taking KSU classes in Columbus may allow for an internship or something - at least hopefully. The competition may be high, but the amount of jobs and pay increase* make up for the chance, plus there are a good bit of places near Perry/Columbus to apply for jobs (North toward Knox, Southeast toward Athens, for example…)
Brendon Small
*this is based on experience in a different field. My wife would make about 10k more in Columbus at the same job - we’re moving that direction, well, kind of, when I get done with school here…
I’d do some research on the job market in places you might want to relocate to. One of my good friends is a public librarian - and its tough - she worked three part time jobs for four years with her MLS before getting a full time librarian job - and her full time job pays her not enough to live on, so she still has one of the part time jobs. But this is the Twin Cities, where we have a MLS program, we are closing public libraries, and the market is really competitive.