School librarian-- any out there?
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Anonymous
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I am interested in becoming a librarian and was looking for advice? It seems you can't do lateral entry for this position, but I don't see anyone local, other than Catholic U that has this to study. Too much $$$. Any tips for me?
I have an English major now. Willing to work as an assistant, but I don't think it would help long term. |
Anonymous
I am afraid this profession is a dead end especially with the internet and electronic books. I would focus your efforts else where. |
Anonymous
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This profession is FAR from dead. Just very different from the card catalog days.
Here's an example -- scroll down to the school library concentration for your interests, OP. http://www.drexel.com/online-degrees/information-sciences-degrees/ms-di/index.aspx |
Anonymous
University of Maryland has a program at the College Park campus and at Shady Grove. I have seen openings for school librarians. As with many jobs these days though, you probably need to be flexible. Montgomery County certainly employs school librarians or media specialists as they are called now. They work with digital information alot.The profession is not 'dead' (what a stupid thing to say from some ignoramus!) Who do you think administers the databases and electronic books..chooses them, manages the licenses, administers them, teaches users how to use them. Duh? Some schools also offer how Masters Degree in Education with a concentration in school library media. I think James Madison/UVA might have something like this in Northern Virginia. You will need to obtain a state issued license to be a school library media specialist, unless you want to work in a private school. Good Luck! |
Anonymous
| Fairfax County Public Schools employs them in every school, and they're called librarians (not media specialists). |
Anonymous
| You may also want to consider a librarian position in the private sector, like law. |
Anonymous
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A friend of mine is doing the online degree at Middle Tennessee University. She seems happy with it. It's a library sciences degree within the school of education. I don't know the field well enough to know if there are more appropriate programs for working in the private sector.
How silly for someone to think this field is dead! Library sciences has kept up with the digital age and is still an in demand job. |
Anonymous
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I got my MLS from the University of Maryland a few years ago. I would do a lot of research before pursuing this. Of my classmates, only a handful are employed in full-time professional jobs in the field five years after graduation. The rest are in paraprofessional, part-time, or temp library jobs, or working in fields tangentially (or not at all) related to librarianship. As previous poster have said, the field is not dead but evolving, but it's worth thinking about how interested you are in the direction it is going. If you develop strong database and computer programming skills, you may be able to get a good job as a systems librarian. But it will be a job where you are sitting in a cubicle at a computer all day, and if you have that skillset you might be equally happy working at a very similar white collar type-job in a nonprofit or corporate setting. If you envision yourself reading to children or working in a book-driven environment, be warned that those jobs are incredibly hard to come by, and that they are being eliminated as older librarians retire. If you do decide to do it, know that in the library world, library experience matters tremendously to getting a job, and you should start working in a library in any capacity ASAP to build up experience before and during school.
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Anonymous
| I'm 15:29. I would not describe it as "in demand" at all - it's a very difficult job market for librarians. |