No, Raynor, I really wrote with a computer comment, just as someone else did, though I said something different. When I realized it, I did add the info from Susan Pieper, but it was not really a stretch. It is directly on point, though in the limited setting of a stint on ALA Council that only about 181 librarians hold at any one time. Susan Pieper even gives suggestions on such a career from an insider’s point of view. I felt her point of view on career tips, even if limited, was worthy of linking here, particularly given the audience.

The “stretch” comes into play when you, Raynor, write here solely about me and not the subject matter at hand. Someone who does that is sometimes called a troll. And I won’t feed the troll further.

You’re really stretching for a reason to advertise.

You can set the Internet browser to display text larger.

Speaking of ALA careers, did you all see what Susan Pieper said about a career at the ALA Council?

http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2010/06/ala-personally-attacks-ala-councilor.html

At least I’m still working.

[AL: Just hit Cntl+ to make the font as large as you want.]

You must remember that 46k is an average just as much as 80k is an average, and in truth a couple jobs on the upper end counteract many jobs on the lower end – the data that would be far more meaningful at this point would be the median and the mode of the data – the middle value, and the most recurrent values.

The fact of the matter is, you’re holding a Masters Degree. You’re fighting for jobs that pay less than McDonalds. So at this point, you would have been better off going off and flipping burgers right out of high school instead of going to colelge. For starters, you would now have 4-8 years of real world work experience of which 2-6 might be real Management experience.

For other matters, you would also relate more with the people who own businesses and are in the mode of hiring people – or at least, look more like what they are looking for.

They don’t want college people – they aspire to someday finish college themselves, but a degree holder is no where near low enough on the totem pole to qualify for their positions – You’re overqualified for what you can do, and underqualified for what you’re degreed to do! Furthermore, these employers were once McDonalds workers themselves – that’s how they worked when they were young, they didn’t do college! So they have a connection with the laborers they will not have with college people.
They automatically assume that since you have a big shiny degree, you must know everything, and hence, you appear stupid for the obvious or arrogant for simply admitting your accomplishments. You’re dead in the water…

Yeah, you can call it Cynical. But I have now found my federal job. It’s not entirely cushy, but at the end of the day it pays far better than most library positions do…Sure, the wage payout isn’t that great, but when you figure in the housing allowance, the food allowance, the clothing allowance, the money for my spouse [if I had one], the educational benefits that can go to me, my spouse or my kids, and the full health plan [NOT insurance!] I am now enrolled in, not to mention all the other little benefits…it’s a nice stack. And when I leave this job, I’ll have 4-20 years of the kind of experience they want in librarians…and library directors! HA. But by then who knows what I’ll be doing, because I doubt I’ll be able to hold still in a building all day after what I do now!

Hey AL, do you think that “Getting Back Into the Game: Advice for the Laid-Off, Insecurely Employed, and Mid-Career Slump” session is a “Here’s some nice resources you may use to apply for SS, unemployment, disability etc, as shown to us by our very own library patrons, to use in the building where you used to work!” or a “Thanks for your service; Good luck with your aspirations; Here’s some other career options to consider: now get out! [but we'll make you feel really good so the door doesn't hurt so bad when it slams on you!]“