Comments on: At Least We Are Not Lawyers

By: Reader Mail: Unemployment in Libraryland « Agnostic, Maybe

Reader Mail: Unemployment in Libraryland « Agnostic, Maybe — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 06:30:31 +0000

[...] mathematical facts can be boring for it boils down to an elementary matter of supply and demand. From my own calculations, there are almost twice as many people going into the field than are coming out of it (though my [...]

By: acaseforbooks

acaseforbooks — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:27:25 +0000

Same here. There may be fewer librarians retiring overall, but even when they DO retire, they’re not being replaced. In my library system we had a hiring freeze for years. So for a long time now, every time a librarian quit or retired, whomever was left just had to pick up the slack and do more work. Which, ironically, is making those of us who remain in the branches turn prematurely gray.

By: Joan Thomas

Joan Thomas — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:09:12 +0000

The numbers are not going to align perfectly. Is it a concern that graduate numbers are higher than jobs at this time? Sure, but education does not guarantee employment.

We all take different paths to find that dream job or first professional job. Maybe we need to start an It Gets Better video campaign for underemployed librarians? Who knows? Maybe it will generate ideas for non-traditional library paths??

By: Adventures of a Guybrarian » Blog Archive » How I got here: Thoughts on jobs and salaries

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:36:25 +0000

[...] when he was looking for a job. Andy Woodworth (also a fellow guybrarian and stellar dude) writes on his blog about lack of jobs, employment and [...]

By: Cari

Cari — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:46:24 +0000

It’s funny, because I often hear librarians, both employed and unemployed, saying “I’m tired of this – I’m going to law school!”

When I speak to students and potential students, I’m really up-front with the information about the job market. I hate seeing it in black and white, but it’s the reality. Yes, I’m worried that I’ll never be promoted because all those baby boomers are hanging on to their management jobs (and for those jobs that do open, the competition is so fierce). So I just have to tell myself I’m lucky to have a job in a library, and a job at all.

By: rcn

rcn — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:44:24 +0000

Even retirement doesn’t help at my library, at least if you want to be a reference librarian. Since 2003, nearly every reference librarian position vacated by a retiring librarian has not been filled and has either gone vacant (eventually being eliminated) or been transferred to a position in another unit/branch in our library system.

rcn in san francisco bay area

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:46:47 +0000

I am and I’m not. I’m not perturbed that people aren’t retiring — the economy is bad and lots of people need to keep working as long as possible. I’m a little perturbed that the profession keeps lying to us about upcoming retirements, but I never really believed them to begin with. And I am annoyed that library schools keep recruiting and pumping out grads when there aren’t enough jobs, but I understand that they’re a business too. The problem is with the education system at large, not just library schools.

I was perturbed when I started library school, but I think now I’m just too tired to be perturbed. I just want a job.

By: The librarian career choice – wise move? | Library Helen's Blog

The librarian career choice – wise move? | Library Helen's Blog — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:24:36 +0000

[...] things interested me today: this bookseller article and this post by Andy [...]

By: Peter Coyl

Peter Coyl — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:38:57 +0000

My alma matter says if you are an on campus student and expect to finish the program in 5 quarters full-time you are expected to take online courses. Its just how they have structured the course offerings. That also meant that as an on-campus student I had to be creative to ensure that the majority of the classes I took were actually on campus (not because there was a requirement, but because I wanted the on campus classes).

Despite this, my college seemed to do little in terms of job placement for graduates. Sure they had job postings and resume critiques, but aside from that you were pretty much on your own.

By: librarianry

librarianry — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:21:10 +0000

I was, and still am, perturbed by the situation that we are in, and to be honest, it doesn’t help all that much to know we are not alone. But do we really have anyone else to blame? I guess we can throw stones at ALA for promoting skewed statistics and antiquated data (actually…yeah I think we are allowed to be pretty pissed off about that), but at the same time they are doing what they believe the need to. They believe they need to increase the numbers, to get new blood flowing through the profession. How is it their fault if we fall for their recruitment?