Comments on: The Library of the Living Dead

By: J

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:49:44 +0000

As others have said, librarians are taking longer to retire, and many of their positions are disappearing when they do (or being converted to paraprofessional ones).

Though such things vary from region to region, the overall trend is for there to be fewer available full-time librarian jobs that pay a living wage than there are degreed librarians who are job hunting. I can see it at work in my region (though not my library, thankfully), and have seen the situation worsen each year.

You said: “One of those stopped developing in 1970 when she graduated from library school, but she’s the one staying on.”

There is a lot of truth in that statement. Far, far too many librarians think that getting an MLS means that their education is done. That’s one reason that the library world does such a pitiful job with technology in general. I’m not talking about self-checkout machines and Twitter accounts – I’m talking about things like serious data management (as opposed to archaic MARC records) and other mature technologies.

Libraries tend to attract certain personality types. For every active, energetic, creative librarian out there, there are 10 more who are highly risk averse and unwilling to be responsible for their own ongoing skill development (“I need to be sent to traiiiiiiniiiing”). There is far more whining in the library world than active attempts to fix things, and far too few people who are willing to stand up and say that the king has no clothes.

By: Techserving You

Techserving You — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:32:29 +0000

Anonymous – I was just reading that BLS statement in their Occupational Outlook Handbook online, and chuckling over it. Librarians, on the whole, are not an ambitious bunch. And, they are used to being marginalized and seem desperate for any kind of recognition. (Do you ever read the ‘how the world views us’ (or whatever it’s called) section of American Libraries? Apparently ANY mere acknowlegement that librarians and libraries exist makes it into that section.)

I strongly suspect that for many librarians, ‘…which is as fast as the average for all occupations’ is a very exciting statement. We’re not growing MORE SLOWLY than the average rate of growth for all occupations. This, apparently, is cause for celebration. Being average is better than being below average.

Or, it is also possible that many librarians have very poor reading comprehension skills, and they just focused on the 8% growth bit.

By: Anonymous Librarian

Anonymous Librarian — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:53:25 +0000

Hey, John Berry, ALA Direct 12/23/09 has a paragraph entitled “Librarian Job Prospects ‘Favorable,’” which quotes stats from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and says “the entry for librarians is optimistic about future employment trends, remarking that “Employment of librarians is expected to grow by 8% between 2008 and 2018, which is as fast as the average for all occupations.”"

Now, as the AL has noted, and the commenters are affirming, just because a whole bunch of librarians reach retirement age between 2008 and 2018, does NOT mean that there will be employment opportunities. Positions are being cut to part-time with no benefits, or cut altogether. MLS-degreed librarians are frequently replaced with “library assistants” or “techs.” And yet, the ALA and library schools continue to tout the strong job market for librarians. It just ain’t so.

By: TwoQatz

TwoQatz — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:42:19 +0000

John Berry – American Libraries ran an article within the last 3-4 months about online degrees and it seems to me it included claims about “lots of jobs” or “lots of retirements” looming. I laughed as I read it – I’ve been hearing and reading about that for a long time.

By: dispirited director

dispirited director — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:44:43 +0000

Regardless of at what age incompetency may manifest itself particularly in an era where professional library job descriptions should be changing as fast as the world around us is, incompetency, as illustrated by the comments of this list, is all too prevalent which does in fact reflect badly on the profession. However, speaking in regard to library management, be they competent or otherwise, library management rarely effectively intervene in or are permitted to intervene in the displacement of professional staffing with an eye toward building competency because library management are rarely imbued with the absolute authority to do so. Library management can suggest, they can recommend, they can weigh in on evaluations that all too often ‘have’ to conform to politically correct language that may convey dissatisfaction with incompetence in the mildest of terms for fear of the myriad of opportunities for employee retribution, for fear of countering the attitude of disconnected non-librarian boards or larger non-librarian organization executives, for fear of still probably having to work with these people regardless of their incompetency. It is amazing that non-librarian boards and executives, who I can only imagine must themselves have engaged in successful business ventures or management at one time or another in their lives, now in their position of authority over libraries seem to associate popularity/brownnosing with competence, and people who do not rock the boat or advocate for positive change as those worth retaining. And while Library management often does retain a great deal of influence over hiring and firing professional positions, inexplicably they do not have total authority over an activity in which they are the ones often held most accountable. I have had my own fingers burned on more than one occasion when pointing out incompetency, which in turn tends to force us to accept incompetence while lamenting the future of our profession.

By: mt4

mt4 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:28:23 +0000

I know at one medium size private university a form of tenure is granted but I wouldn’t call those who have it “old” or near retirement. Some people who have earned it are in their early to mid 40s- so theoretically another 20 years away from actually leaving.

But I used to work w/ a woman who is of retirement age whom I’m convinced will stay there until she dies. It’s the only place she’s ever worked and she is comfortable doing absolutely nothing while complaining about how hard it is to learn new things in librarianship. She’s been demoted several times over the last 3 decades but continues to stay. And the younger librarians there can’t stand her.

By: Techserving You

Techserving You — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:37:24 +0000

I think I could probably find the evidence of ALA’s claims. I have been working in libraries since the mid-90s, and I certainly have read this claim over and over since that time. It’s usually in articles in publications like Library Journal, American Libraries, and also in stories from news outlets which (so it seems) contacted ALA for input before writing the article. You know, those articles about how librarianship is one of the best careers of the year.

By: middle aged librarian

middle aged librarian — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:57:30 +0000

Techserving You —

Yes 403(b) not 401(b). And TIAA-CREF is a 403(b).

By: John Berry, LJ

John Berry, LJ — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:41:30 +0000

AL ought to provide evidence from the past five years where: “The ALA has been claiming for years that there will be librarian shortages in the future….” I can’t find it.

By: TheIlliterateLibrarian

TheIlliterateLibrarian — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:37:08 +0000

I know some rather old workers here who are hanging on for their 30 year mark. They WANT to retire, but they need that 30 years in to see max pension benefits. And it’s not like they make so gosh-darned much now that seeing a reduced benefit will just mean they can’t go to the fancy steakhouse every week, it’s the difference between being able to buy their prescriptions and NOT. I’ve not known MANY librarians who made SO much that retirement wouldn’t hurt them financially. And these are people who have scrimped and saved for years and years, own their home, etc. But those property taxes aren’t going to pay themselves when they retire. When you’ve been living on reduced income your whole life before you took up librarianship, there’s not much more you can do to live cheaply, other than, say, a box under the bridge. “Some people” may want to think of that before they make blanket statements about how other people should get the hell out of the library so the youngins can have their crack at messing things up too (sorry–I may be a millenial but I’m not naieve enough to believe that simply being YOUNG gives someone all the answers). Some of success is hard work and education, some of it is luck. But once you have the education, and you work hard, luck is NOT going to come your way if you don’t open a door for it. Be social (step one: don’t be an anonymous jerk on the internet), make contacts and friends, keep yourself open to non-traditional opportunities and tracks because not everyone’s journey to the same destination takes the same road, and above all… TAKE CHANCES. You may fail or fall flat on your face publically, but learn from it, dust yourself off and go on. No one is entitled to a job in libraryland or anywhere else. Having a degree can open a door, but it doesn’t assure you anything. And yes, there are people here who’re just doing their time–fine, whatever. I’m going to keep working hard and trying new things, and I’m going to move up and on, while they’re still here 20 years from now, doing the same exact thing. It just means *I* am vying with less people for the next job or opportunity. Does it stink that things run badly because of these people? Yes. But if I don’t move up and on, I’ll never be in a position to change it. I certainly had NO power as an afternoon volunteer, and who really wants to listen to the lowest man on the totem pole kvetch about just how unfair everything is in the world?