MLIS Grad Openly Doubts Job Prospects on Reddit

On Reddit, a recent MLIS grad expressed frustration at finding a full-time library job. Starting a thread on the popular online discussion board, the grad asked: "Do any other MLIS people doubt they will actually ever find full-time work?"
 

Some MLIS grads wonder if their help is really wanted.
Image via Tumblr

  
The MLIS grad, whose Reddit handle is LionOfBabylon, continued: "I've applied for jobs in 3 countries and about 15 states. One on-campus interview. They hired a local." The grad has had "one assistant job and two internships. I'm very lucky to have an assistant job at the moment. It's 14 hours a week, but it at least keeps me fed.... It's a shame. I love my job. I love helping patrons. I just apparently am not good enough to contribute and am starting to think I never will be."

This MLIS grad's obvious weariness generated 72 responses. Immediately, the discussion veered toward records management (RM), with respondents suggesting LionOfBabylon consider it as a career. "I made the jump," said Ashliek, "because I couldn't get a library job in the area where I'd just moved. I miss working in a library setting, but getting double the pay makes it worthwhile!" Agent_Peach chimed in: "Totally agree. I'm in records management for a gold mining company and I love it. Great pay, benefits, security, and I'm at least using some of the knowledge from my degree. And I was hired about 3 months after graduating."

When not recommending a career in records management, respondents offered their own job search stories and encouraged LionOfBabylon to not give up. "It took me two and a half years, moving across the country and back for a temp position, countless applications, and interviews with no response. I was unemployed for 18 months. I was terrified I'd never work in a library again," revealed rarcke. "Then one day I got three phone interviews. One hired me. That was five years ago. It's going to happen to you eventually. Stay strong and have faith." Fish_whisperer said, "It took me over half a year and over a hundred applications before I got three phone interviews and two on-campus interviews. Now I have a full-time job at a university and live halfway across the country. Keep your chin up."

In their response to LionOfBabylon, some Redditors were less than encouraging, however. "Please, save yourself tens of thousands of dollars and a lot of work," said saintstryfe. "Don't waste your time. There's no jobs, no security, and there's no hope of improvement." Ashliek went after the naysayer: "I totally disagree. There were no less than 10 records management jobs posted to recordsmgt-L this week." Saintstryfe countered,"Half of which are postings for jobs where they already have someone in mind, another group where HR people have put insane requirements up, and that last group of attainable jobs will be so inundated with requests that any real applicants will be lost. Also, while related, records management is not archival work." 

One respondent, Exlibrarian, even crunched the numbers: "From 2004-2014, we have roughly 7,000 new graduates per year. So that's 70,000 new MLIS grads in the past 10 years for what is around 120,000 librarian positions. Given the limited/nonexistent growth in this period, you'll need at least 50 percent of all librarians to retire in the period to make room. And next year there will be another 7,000 MLIS holders." Exlibrarian continued, "The math just doesn't work that it's even possible for all new MLIS grads to get jobs, there simply are not enough jobs, and despite what the BLS says, both public libraries and academic libraries have shown no growth. It needs to be crystal clear that it is currently not possible for all new grads to get jobs, and it will continue to get worse."

Nevertheless, others strove to keep the discussion positive. "Spread your wings," urged JimmyHavok. "There are places you might not have thought of, like legislative research bureaus. That's a pretty popular place for MLSs to spend some time in my state." Macjoven offered up some encouraging straight talk: "I'm not going to say, 'Don't give up.' You can give up if you want to. You can keep throwing 'can'ts' in front of you that stop you cold, and keep listening to people who confirm your fears and and pessimism. But it won't help, and you won't feel better. Go do what your passion demands and know that regardless of job title, or even industry, you are already a library professional."

For the full discussion thread for "Do any other MLIS people doubt they will actually ever find full-time work?", go to Reddit at THIS LINK.

Lessons Learned by Being a Librarian Abroad

For a while, I've been thinking about working as a librarian beyond my country's borders. Attending a workshop on international librarianship, where people spoke about being librarians in places like Italy and the UAE, only deepened my interest.

Working as a librarian abroad will really expand your horizons!
Image via http://www.internationalteflacademy.com

One MLS degree holder who has worked abroad is Rachel Wightman. She accepted a library position at a small college in the East African country of Uganda.

Wightman worked at a college library in Kampala, Uganda, for a year and a half. During her time there, she installed and networked computers, implemented an integrated library system (ILS), cataloged the library's collection, and taught computer and research skills to students. In addition to these valuable tasks, she also learned some invaluable lessons about librarianship.

In an article posted on INALJ.com, Wightman revealed "4 Things I Learned About Library Service by Leaving the Country." These four things are:

1. Greet people: "This made the library a more personable space and helped remind me regularly the importance of building relationships with patrons and not simply seeing them as another question to answer," said Wightman.

2. Some things are cultural, some are universal: "Every library exists within its own culture and the work I do needs to be relevant to that culture," she said.

3. Know your collection: "It wasn't uncommon for the power to go out for hours (or days!) at a time," said Wightman. "During those times, I learned the importance of knowing the library's physical collection."

4. Understand the community: "This is similar to number 2, but worth mentioning," she said. "The collections, resources, and programs are all geared toward the type of community the library serves. This lesson was especially important in Uganda."

Rachel Wightman gained some excellent knowledge during her year and a half as a librarian abroad, and I'm glad she shared her experience and the lessons she learned from it on INALJ.com. To read more about her time in Uganda, check out her article at THIS LINK. In the meantime, I'll look into getting a passport.

24 Book Picks on the Library Profession

For a long time, I thought about becoming a librarian. The seed was indelibly planted during my years of working on a part-time basis at campus libraries in undergraduate school; it was a job I truly enjoyed. I found the daily variety, in both tasks and patrons, stimulating. However, upon college graduation, I decided to pursue a career in publishing. I found working in publishing to be exciting and at times gratifying, but the desire to return to the stacks persisted.

A book on the library profession that truly inspired me.
Image via http://www.marilynjohnson.net

Changing careers from publishing to librarianship went from something I pondered to something I wanted to pursue after I read two pivotal articles. One ran in the Spring 2004 issue of Bust. It's titled "Revenge of the Librarian: With their own action figures, 'zines, and websites, a new breed of librarians is closing the book on a stodgy old stereotype." The magazine's new look at an old profession inspired me. The other article that got me excited about librarianship was in the July 8, 2007, edition of the New York Times. Titled "A Hipper Crowd of Shushers," it profiled librarians in their 20s and 30s, women and men, who were doing cool and admirable things, such as engaging in social activism, creating zines and comic books, and being active in social media. Reading it, I thought, "This is something I really want to be a part of."

Later, I embarked on a series of informational interviews with those active in the library profession in order to get an insider's view on what it's really like. Then I picked up the book This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson, and that was it. My mind was made up. I knew I wanted to go to library school.

Johnson's book isn't among the 24 books on the library profession culled from WorldCat by Valerie Hawkins. Still the list is worth checking out if you're seriously considering a career in librarianship. Whether you're looking to become a school library media specialist (New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialist's Guide to Success), an academic librarian (How to Stay Afloat in the Academic Library Job Pool), an academic or public library director (The Next Leadership: Attributes of Academic and Public Library Directors), or a public librarian (Neal-Schuman Directory of Public Library Job Descriptions), there is a book on this list for you. Also covered is how to pay for library school (How to Pay for Your Degree in Library & Information Studies 2010-2012), which, of course, is crucial. To see all 24 books on library careers, go to this WorldCat link. Thank you, Valerie, for putting this list together!