As many already know, constant denial of self-worth by outside parties leads to feelings of loss, inadequacy, petulance and depression, to name a few. No real news on the job front – I continue to attract phone interviews that go nowhere. Today I got a rejection email from Endnotes, a new journal being published by the NMRT, to be a book reviewer. I was told that the pool was “very competitive.” I’m starting to take that to mean that they were too lazy to go through all the applications they received. (See note about petulance above.) I’m trying to decide when I need to start applying for non-library, but library-related jobs. (And can I say that my frustration is only deepened by having colleagues who have job security and nice salaries who are just as qualified, or even less qualified, than me?) I am so tired.
It’s gotten to the point in my job search that I no longer keep track of where I’ve applied and when. In my last year of library school, when I began applying for jobs, I created a nice little spreadsheet with all the pertinent information and I checked various things off religiously.
I can’t do that to myself any more.
So now, I write up the cover letter, put together all the things required and send it off. And then forget about it. That’s how hopeful I am.
Everyone works with at least one person who has certifiable mental issues. I have the joy of working with two such people, both of whom are in supervisory roles. I learned a few years ago that it is best to keep my mouth shut in such a situation, since anything, no matter how innocuous, may be used as a reason to fire me. (Ya, you still suck SFMOMA.)
Having to deal with people who exhibit behaviors such as obscene self-absorption, delusional thinking and morbid anxiety, makes for an uncomfortable and dangerous workplace. Such as right now when I’d love to tell my manager that her conference call can be heard through out the library, but can’t, for fear of: 1) being treated in a completely snarky manner until the end of my contract and 2) the possibility of her giving me a bad reference in an under-handed way.
I hope that I get far enough along in my career to sit on many hiring committees so that I can nix any candidates who seem perfectly qualified on paper but who exhibit on closer inspection:
1) An inability to pick up on social cues;
2) Talking ad nauseam about his or her cat(s)*;
3) Takes credit for absolutely everything;
4) Exhibits any type of passive-aggressive behavior.
I don’t have a problem with people being crazy per se (I know I am incredibly socially maladjusted in many ways), but life would be so much better if they would just keep the crazy to themselves.
*I seem to have a particular problem clashing with women who are blond, slightly overweight and who love their cats. I’ve seriously had altercations with every woman with whom I’ve worked who had these attributes. What the fuck is up with that?
“From a Distance,” an article that appeared in the October issue of American Libraries provides a glowing report on the growth and necessity of on-line MSLS distance education programs. Kenneth Hartman, academic director of Drexel University Online, trots out the the now rather thin argument of increased growth of the library job market as a driver of distance education growth:
Interest in the MLS degree will no doubt continue, as employment opportunities in the library and information science job sector are projected to experience positive growth in coming years, (ed: NOT!) according to data reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (sector analyses for 2006 to 2016), United States Bureau of Labor Occupational Employment Statistics, and reports from the American Library Association.
Eduventures, a higher-education research and consulting firm, estimated in a January report prepared for Drexel University Online that more than 21,4000 graduate students will be enrolled in a fully or blended online MLIS program in 2009, and that nearly 7,300 MLS degrees will be awarded this year. Eduventures projects a 3% annual growth in MLS enrollment between now and 2011. (ed: are you fucking kidding me?)
To be honest I really dislike this shitty type of article, written by someone with an obvious conflict of interest. Do they seriously think that there are 7300 new jobs created each year for people with the MSLS? Granted, some of those graduates already have jobs in libraries and some of them will probably go on to pursue other degrees, keeping them out of the job market….but still, the author did not provide actual numbers of job growth (nor address how the market downturn has effected libraries’ hiring) means I’m more than a bit skeptical of his claim.
So, my two cents: if you need an MSLS to get a promotion at a job you already have and the only way to do this is through an on-line distance ed program, then go for it. Otherwise, don’t bother.
Like today, when I read the upteenth article on being a “blended librarian” (you mean, like a daiquiri? har har) and all I can think is “christ this person is such a tool.”
Or when the graduate student comes up and complains about how the slides on her professor’s video lecture aren’t keeping up with the subject she’s on and what can I do to fix it? Um, maybe you should ask your professor about that. (The same graduate student who had to be told at least four times that I wasn’t going to help her find an article when she had the full citation.)
My new goal in life is to not retire as a librarian.
Just when I think that I’m running out of luck, as far as having positions to apply for, 2-3 positions inevitably appear on various listings. Which is good. But also…difficult, might be the best word to describe how I feel about it. Since I’ve essentially been applying for jobs since late fall of 2007 I’m kind of burnt-out on the whole thing. This is confounded by the fact that I try to write a new cover letter for each position (of course with some cannibalization of prior letters – sometimes certain sentences are just constructed too well to try and re-write them). I just get tired of writing about myself and how I know how to do this and that. And I really wish I’d had my shit together in the mid-90s so that I could have gotten my degree then and entered a job market that was healthy and not saturated with new librarians.
I love it that my dad recently told me that he thought I’d “eventually” get a job – I replied that yes, “eventually” would be nice, since my contract here ends next spring and then I’ll literally be destitute. What I’d really like to hear is “don’t worry, we’ll help you if that happens.” But, help is not something I routinely get from my family. Empty platitudes not withstanding.
Soon all of this will be under multiple feet of snow. I should get out more…
I was trying to cheer myself up the other day, trying to stop my mind from dwelling on the possibility that I will be destitute come next May if I don’t find a job, when I decided to concentrate on what happened to the last batch of applications I sent out, rather than the fact that a job was not the end result.
I sent out six (I think) applications in August, out of those six I was contacted for phone interviews from three schools. Out of those three interviews I was asked to do one on-site interview (no job offer) and had my application submitted for a different position at the same school.
Considering the fact that hiring committees are having to sift through hundreds of applications for these jobs, I consider my applications to be somewhat successful. And I am hoping that this rate of return continues for the next round of applications I’m sending out. I just have to remember that things could be so much worse.
Deciding if I should apply for a position is relatively simple for me. If I feel my experience does not correspond to both the required and desired qualifications stated in a job ad I will not apply. (And this is a good tactic for all new librarians – seriously, if you’re not qualified your application goes immediately into the ignore pile.) Wellesley College is currently advertising for a Reference and Instruction Librarian. For the most part the minimum and desired qualifications read like a typical reference and instruction position. Until I got to this part at the end of the desired qualifications:
…and foreign language skills, particularly Chinese, Japanese, and/or Korean
Hunh?
It’s not that requiring foreign-language skills is uncommon for a reference librarian position. The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque currently advertised for a Spanish-speaking librarian, which makes sense considering their geographic location. But desiring an Asian speaking librarian narrows the field quite a bit. And since it is not a minimum qualification I cannot assume that they are looking for a subject specialist. This is when things get a little dicey for me. They obviously want someone with relatively specialized skills – skills that will narrow their applicant pool considerably. But for some reason, these qualifications could not be included in the minimum qualifications description. In this situation it is hard to know what to do – I do not have Asian language skills, but I do meet all of their other minimum and desired qualifications. And the way it is worded – if taken for its literal meaning – what they want are applicants with “foreign language skills.”
So, for this one I’m going on the face value and apply. It’s not like my application hasn’t been sent to the discard pile before.
It took me a long time to decide to go to library school. It’s something I started thinking about in 1999, but didn’t make happen until 2006. In 1999 I was living on the West Coast. I had a decent job that paid me enough money, but I wasn’t happy. I decided to move back to my hometown, go back to my undergraduate school and work on getting a second degree under my bachelor’s so that I could raise my deplorable grade point average and apply to decent graduate schools for library science. That took me four years. Long story short, I finally applied to library school in 2005, was accepted and began my program in 2006, graduating in 2008. I learned a lot in graduate school, but there were many wrong choices and opportunities missed. These observations may help you avoid many of the problems and frustrations I created for myself.
Don’t Go.
Seriously. The market is saturated: there are not enough academic jobs for the number of graduates being churned out. Do this instead: get a paraprofessional job in an academic library. Work in Circulation, Interlibrary Loan, Technical Services, or any department that will give you experience working in an academic library. Build relationships and be active (ALA does provide opportunities for paraprofessional involvement). Try to find a place to work that will give you tuition benefits – work on a subject master’s or your library degree (if they have a program) while you’re there. (Of course, this tactic may be totally useless in today’s economy; in 2005 it was still a valid choice.)
Choose a school based on geography, not on status.
Want to work at the Library of Congress? Go to Catholic and do a lot of internships at the Library. It’s the most effective way of getting through their impenetrable hiring process. Unless you’re a superstar (see below), it’s my personal opinion that you’ll have a higher chance of getting a job if you stay within the geographical area where you went to school (unless it’s already saturated with librarians, like the Research Triangle in North Carolina). The libraries and librarians that will be hiring you will be familiar with your program. They also probably know, or have worked with, many of your professors and instructors. And you’ll probably have more opportunities to do internships and fieldwork at institutions were you want to find a permanent job. Getting the job is much more likely if they know who you are.
Be A Superstar
Do as much as you can while you’re in your program. Library school is not hard – take as many classes as you can. Do as many internships and field studies as you can. Get hired as a Graduate Assistant in at least one academic library, if not more (most schools will let graduate assistants work over 20 hours per week). Build relationships with your supervisors and professors and network with your classmates. You should do this not because it looks good on your resume (it does), but because it gives you a certain amount of knowledge and experience that will serve you well in the hiring process. Also, being active is when you start having fun.
Be An Instructor
There’s no way you’re going to be hired as a reference librarian without having instruction experience and, unfortunately, most library schools do not provide a curriculum in instruction and teaching pedagogy. Try to get teaching experience while you’re in school, whether it’s doing undergraduate information literacy classes for your school’s library, or teaching classes at a community center. Also, try to take a pedagogy course in your school’s education department. Every phone interview I’ve had in the last few months has included questions on my teaching philosophy or pedagogy. Along with this you should know the ACRL information literacy standards. In general, this document is the foundation of many school’s information literacy programs.
Have your Subject Master’s In Hand
If you don’t already have a second master’s in another subject, try to work on one at the same time that you are getting your library degree. Some schools have dual degree programs that allow you to do this, but even if they don’t, work with the school to get this done. If you have practical experience along with all the educational credentials, your application will be much more competitive.
On The Bright Side
If you’re a minority and you’re interested in working in an academic librarian, I would say definitely go for it. The academic library profession actively recruits minorities for their positions and, as a bonus, there are many minority post-mls fellowships/internships available. In the academic library world, the recipients of these fellowships generally form a tight-knit group that is very active within the profession on a national level. Some of the universities that offer these diversity programs are: the University of Delaware, North Carolina State University, the University of Tennessee, University of Iowa and the University of Arkansas.
Per the Library Journal’s Placement and Salaries Survey 2009 things are looking kind of bleak for librarians. Both placement and salaries have decreased and women’s salaries are still lagging behind men’s (in a woman-dominated profession, no less). Unfortunately, I don’t think hiring is going to get any better. So don’t believe the hype that (some) library graduate programs like to spout about the dearth of librarians in this country. It’s just not true.
