Comments on: Stupidity, Conspiracy, or Greed?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:38:22 +0000

I work with government stats and can assure you there IS a coming wave of retirees, across all professions, and there are not enough Gen X/Yers to fill all those spots. The number of Boomers are greater than the number of Gen X/Yers – it’s simple math. There will be labor shortages across the board in the coming decade. We may have already started seeing those shortages if the economy hadn’t tanked.

That said, how severe will the librarian shortage be? Hard to say. In this age, when it’s popular to cut library budgets, there’s a real possibility that jobs will be eliminated, rather than posted and re-filled, as staff retire. I’m interested to see how this plays out.

As for the conspiracy theory that the schools and ALA are promoting the oversupply of qualified librarians, I don’t buy it. Yes, the ALA and the accredited schools work closely hand in hand – but who typically promotes the idea that there is a job shortage in this field? Neither. It’s the media (like those Top 10 Career Opportunity articles you see on Yahoo! news) and stat gathering organizations like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm#outlook) that push the idea that there will be jobs available soon. I went to two library schools (tranferred midway), and never once had either administration tell me, “You entered a great profession! There are going to be so many career opportunities for you!” Instead, they were actually quite truthful about how hard it is to get a job in this field, and encouraged us to break into it as early as possible via internships or clerk jobs because that experience is crucial to getting a professional level job.

By: Diane Roberts

Diane Roberts — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:50:45 +0000

Off topic somewhat, but I’ve wondered for years why there is the almost universal requirement for an MLS? Given that the program is a LOT of work, but not rigorous (much like education classes), it just doesn’t make sense to require a master’s level degree to work in a library.

Many years ago I went to Texas Woman’s University and got a bachelor’s degree in library science. True enough I needed the masters, which I dutifully got a little later, but people are still asking if you need a college degree to be a librarian. You could get even more training with a bachelors, isn’t it usually 36 hours in your major? And maybe 30 for a master’s degree, and don’t people have to have a few hours in some other field to round out the hours required?

I suppose that would generate even more graduates looking for jobs though. So never mind. But the entry level MLS is still dumb.
Diane in Houston

By: another f-ing librarian

another f-ing librarian — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:07:12 +0000

I think librarianship is a lot like Amway. Everyone trying to get everyone else to sell, no one trying to get anyone to buy.

By: NotMarianTheLibrarian

NotMarianTheLibrarian — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:31:59 +0000

“weakly qualified MLS holders” – more and more of them all the time.

By: teetop

teetop — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:30:42 +0000

I’ll amplify what Sarah said; if you are willing to hustle, there is plenty of opportunity to work as a part-time or adjucnt librarian; if you do it at the JC level, it can pay very well. I think that there are plenty of vacant FT jobs as well, however since they tend to be governmental jobs, when times are tough they will not be filled. My advice, and I’ve lived this out, is to take what work you can get in the field, build you resume up and keep looking for work. Eventually you’ll come up with a good job.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:37:35 +0000

There has been a shortage for years of librarians OK with part-time, no benefits, no set schedule public desk jobs, ever since directors figured that a FT vacancy at the top (or even the middle or lower level) had to mean an available FT entry level job. But now that managers and even directors are being laid off, and that students are balking at the exorbitant cost at diploma mills in order to be unemployed, there aren’t enough “qualified” librarians.

By: newbie

newbie — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 02:14:34 +0000

What about unionizing?

By: Spekkio

Spekkio — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:34:51 +0000

I love this piece…I think any students in the audience should print it and post it around their buildings and classrooms on campus. If nothing else, it’ll make the professors squirm. And I do love making professors squirm.

By: I Like Books

I Like Books — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:44:09 +0000

I’ve seen the same thing in physics, but it’s pretty much intrinsic to academia. For the professor of physics, it’s an inherent good to have more physics students. Never mind that there aren’t enough PhD-level jobs in physics and related fields for all of the graduates, let’s get the Physics Phair going and do some outreach to the high schools! But if the student does head into industry, finance, or another non-academic field, he’s pretty much counted off as a loss. And so it’s not wise to express those kinds of interests when applying for a post-doc.

I’m convinced there’s no malevolence or conspiracy involved. It’s just a “more people should be like me” kind of thing.

By: MA

MA — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:36:16 +0000

As a recent library school graduate, I really wish the librarian shortage myth would find a hole and die. Libraries are being clobbered with job applications. Librarians with 10 years of experience are applying for entry level positions, so people like me with my fresh and clean MLIS and only one year experience have no shot of landing a job.

My theory was always that the ALA and others push this “librarian shortage” idea, based on shaky facts (sure, lots of librarians are retiring over the next ten years, but there are one hundred times as many waiting to take their place), to kind of ensure their future. Library schools have a clear investment in making people believe that job prospects are bright at the end of the $60,000 rainbow. MLS professors want to keep their jobs. The ALA wants to keep selling memberships. Etc.

It’s hard when the establishment is not being honest about itself. Very frustrating.