Any librarians on?

[blisstwins]

I have worked in education my whole life and am in a funky situation for a lot of reasons...the bottom line is that high school teaching requires, in many ways, too much of me. Too much class prep, too much grading, too much politics/pressure. At this point, with young children, I feel firm that I want something on an academic calendar. I was vacations and summers to overlap with my children. Should I think about library school? What are the options? Are there school options that are not insane? I want to go to work and come home without hours of stuff to do.

Thanks!

[Babywhite]

I finished my MLIS degree before DD was born. After being in the education field for several years, I knew that I didn't want to teach. I decided that the library science field would allow me different options for the future.

After finishing my master's degree, I worked as a children's librarian in one of our local public libraries. I plan on working in a school library once DD goes to school.

It is a lot of work, but it is a lot of fun. You don't have the same kids all day -- which I think is a plus. Also, you don't have all of that paperwork.

I also enjoy that it deals a lot with technology.

After DD finishes school, I could look at other options with this degree -- such as working in a college library, medical library, etc. (Of course, I would need additional classes... :))

If you are interested, try volunteering in a school's library for a while. You'll definitely know if you like it or not ....

Good luck... :)

[niccig]

Librarian here, but at universities. No, I didn't bring tonnes of stuff home everyday. I did at times stay late or bring something home, but not daily.

I wouldn't look at college libraries, as your schedule would not be the same as your kids. College libraries are year round, and open weekends and late evenings. I used to work the 3pm-12am shift Tuesday-Sunday. I never saw DH. I was thinking about part-time work now, but many of those positions are night and weekends and DH's work can be erratic and I'd have to find child care options. I'm looking to get out of traditional librarianship, and I may have my foot in the door at a museum for part-time research work.

You'll need a Masters of Library Science, or there's a master's degree with school library media from educational unit accredited with NCATE. Check here for details.
http://www.ala.org/ala/education/degrees/degrees.cfm

If you did want to go into other library fields later on, you would need the Masters of Library Science. If you do want to swap into a different type of library later on, you'll need some extra classes and experience - maybe even unpaid. I did work in public libraries when I first graduated and then moved into university libraries. I tried to get several jobs in public libraries a few years back, and couldn't get an interview. I called and was told I wasn't short-listed as too many candidates with recent relevant experience and my recent experience wasn't relevant. I did the same when I was on the panel for short-listing for college library jobs - too many candidates with college library experience. You can move across, it might just take some work and starting over with getting relevant experience.

I think if you want to stay in education, but not the issues you currently have, it could be a good move and you already know the school district, are a known person etc.

[MontrealMum]

I am presently finishing my MLIS part-time. There is no way I could have done it full-time with a child at home, but if you're careful with your course selection and planning, it is possible to do on a part-time basis. It's a hard programme (and that's coming from someone with lots of grad school experience), but I think it will be worth it in terms of job opportunities and flexibility in the long run. My programme has a choice of 3 streams: traditional librarianship, knowledge management, and archives (I am in archives, as I already have an MA in History, and will complete a PhD this year).

We have been told by countless graduates and guest speakers that it doesn't actually matter which stream you were in, or which courses you took, when it comes to getting a job. Personally, I don't know about that (and that's not what pp have said who've been working in the field), but I am going for something very specific to combine with my other degrees/training so I am tailoring my courses to what I plan to do. My school offers an additional 4-course certification at reduced cost to their graduates that want to come back to re-train. So, if you want to take some of the newer courses in Web Design, Records Management etc. Or if you wanted to take the Health and Sciences course in the hopes of getting a job at the hospital.

I think for many people it offers lots of different options; many of my friends that began the programme with me already have jobs (they graduated in May). Also, as a pp said, you can always volunteer to see if you'd like it or not.

I wanted to add, it's a great programme for the non-traditional (older) older student. Yes, there are plenty of 22 yr. olds fresh from their BAs, but there are also lots of us that have chosen to go back to school. It makes for a nice mix, and it's a lot less scary if you're on the older end of the spectrum.

[niccig]

We have been told by countless graduates and guest speakers that it doesn't actually matter which stream you were in, or which courses you took, when it comes to getting a job. Personally, I don't know about that (and that's not what pp have said who've been working in the field)

The problem with moving across areas is if you try to move at the same level you currently are. Eg. Manager of law library tries to move to manager of public library. Yes, a lot of the skills sets are the same, but the clientèle and the information resources being used are different. Yes, you can learn these differences, but you will be competing for the job with people who already know them. You might need to go down a few steps in professional level to get a start in the new area.

It also works the same within libraries. Eg. I was a mid-level reference librarian. I know cataloging, but haven't done it in years. I could easily learn again, but it would be difficult if I was going for a cataloging librarian position of the same level. And it would work the same with cataloging to reference. It's not impossible to do, but as you get further up, particularly in a large library, some of you work does get more specialized.

I don't want you to think that you're stuck with a choice that you make, you can change. I's a great field for learning and applying what you know to other areas. It might just be a step back or two in pay grade, before you can go further ahead.

[MontrealMum]

Ah, thanks Nicci, that makes lots of sense. One of the things I do like about the Info. field is that it does offer so much flexibility, even if there are pay cuts, or a small bit of retraining.

[niccig]

Sometimes knowing two fields, even if need to retrain in the other, can be very attractive to future employees. Sometimes specialization can pay off too. If I can't pull off the part-time museum work, I'm going to try and get some part-time work at the local community college. I'm hoping that my specialized area of law reference in addition to my general reference knowledge, will make me attractive, as I'll be bringing something to the table that others may not have. It's what got me a job at UCLA Law Library. I could do all the work they required, I did need to brush up on my knowledge of US legal resources, but I brought knowledge of the British Commonwealth legal system - the Foreign Law Librarian loved that, he just handed all Faculty requests for Commonwealth countries to me.

One thing that is common to all fields - IT knowledge. Know how to use and how to create - web pages, databases etc. Another plus on my side for the UCLA job was ability to create in-house databases in MS Access - they had several made, but only people that could input data and not change database structure or create new ones. Really, anything IT - learn about it.