Haven’t had a chance to read the whole article or judge its methodology yet, but this article, An Analysis of Entry-Level Librarian Ads Published in American Libraries, 1982-2002 by Sproles and Ratledge should be very interesting to those of us in school and all the recent library school grads complaining about the lack of entry-level positions.
From the conclusion:
Overall it appears that today’s entry-level librarian will have the following qualities:
- They will have an ALA-MLS degree.
- They will have a high level of computer/automation knowledge and/or experience. At a minimum they will be a skilled user of the web, e-mail, desktop computer hardware, peripherals, and software.
- They may also have a fair degree of basic computer troubleshooting skills and the ability to create relatively complex web sites.
- Most will have a significant level of knowledge of, and/or experience in, their specific area of specialization or interest.
- They will exhibit a high degree of communication ability and interpersonal skills.
- They will have a high degree of diversity awareness and ability to work well with others regardless of background.
- They will show evidence of scholarship or scholarly ability.
Read, study, and think about all of those points people. I may not have the best self-esteem but I have most of my peers in school beat on all of those points right now. You want to be a librarian? Do your research and prepare yourself. No one is going to give you a job just because you graduated from school. One place to start is to read the above article.
The journal, Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship is peer-reviewed and free. Above article is from v. 5 no. 2-3 (Fall 2004), ISSN 1704-8532.
1 response so far ↓
1 Bennie Visher III // Jun 3, 2006 at 7:54 pm
The Sproles and Ratledge article does an excellent job in emphasizing the need for extensive library experience for anyone who wants even an entry-level librarian (or Librarian I) job.
Indeed, the failure of many libraries to provide on-the-job training for inexperienced librarians should admonish any individual to do the following:
Please work full time at a library for at least five (5) consecutive years BEFORE applying to any Master of Library Science (or similar) program. Otherwise, the chances of getting employment as an entry-level librarian become terribly slim.
If any MLS program wants to prevent inexperienced librarians from earning MLS degrees that essentially glorify clerks, then such graduate programs should require all applicants to have significant full-time experience as library workers or library assistants.
Unfortunately, such programs foolishly accept and graduate “raw recruits” who will have extraordinarily difficult times in obtaining even part-time librarian jobs.
And here’s an ironic twist that is very much possible, considering the rather ruthless librarian job market:
A senior librarian has a much better chance of getting an entry-level librarian position than any MLS holder who never had the opportunity to gain needed experience.
Yet the library is too cheap to provide even decent in-house training. Now that’s fair.