Comments on: New Grads on the Market: Report from the Field

By: Eric Deatherage

Eric Deatherage — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:45:51 +0000

I came across this post after I read a letter to the editor criticizing it as inappropriate. The letter was from a mother of a recent MLS graduate who was having difficulty locating a job in the field.

As a professional in the library field, I feel that it is part of my duty to mentor new librarians, support students in MLS programs in their endeavors, and generally be a team player regarding my cohorts in the field, be they folks who have been in the field for a while or folks new to the field.

The Library Journal, both in paper and in website form, is a resource that we use on a regular basis for the progression of our profession and the careers of those in our profession. To belittle a librarian or prospective librarian in the manner that you have through this post is unprofessional and warrants significant review and evaluation. It is a hard market out there, and job searching, like anything else, requires a skill set that can only be learned through the process of trial and error.

You do yourself and your profession a dis-service by overtly disrespecting your peers, especially in such a public manner. These individuals you are currently using as an emotional punching bag for no other reason than a cheap chuckle, will, in the time span of a few years, be sitting on committees with you, attending conferences with you, and providing peer evaluations for you. One of them may even become your boss someday.

By: Austin

Austin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 19:31:00 +0000

Look sometimes we all have to step outside our comfort zone with what we want to do and end up doing. I graduated in Fall 10 with a BBA in HRM and I can only tell you how automation and downsized staffs are the mainstay now more so then before the Crash. Automation has affected me like it has effected the library staff also, so sometimes its a step away from what you “think” you want to do and toward something you know.

I had worked designing websites prior to college and decided to start my own very small firm, out of my spare room at first but I stuck with it and over time it is now a small office with two employees helping out other small businesses to get themselves on the net in the best way possible.

Don’t think that every step outside your intended profession is fatal, it could be a good thing in the long run.

By: Former Syracuse Student

Former Syracuse Student — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:29:39 +0000

As a graduate of an online MLS program through Syracuse’s iSchool I can say that I did not feel as though I had an experience that would be comparable to that of a traditional seated classroom environment. The lack of interaction with professors is downright frustrating. I had a professor for my IST 618 (Survey of Telecommunications and Information Policy) who, a few weeks into the semester, simply went AWOL. There was no way to reach her (she did not respond to emails) and calling her office phone was useless because she – obviously – wasn’t on campus. All this wouldn’t have been so bad (all you have to do is get someone to release the module materials each week, which a GA could do) but she decided to give everyone in the class a grade below 50% on the first (major) assignment in the course, and then give absolutely no explanation as to why the grades were so low. This is the type of thing you run into with online coursework, which would NEVER happen in a “real” classroom.

By: Formerprof

Formerprof — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:48:21 +0000

George,
You are exactly wrong. The real problem is that library schools ARE “puppy mills” and that new librarians ARE suckers for believing all this talk about impending retirements.

Part time and temporary positions DO SUCK. You know this is true. That’s why you’re looking for “something permanent.”

By: George Kaplan

George Kaplan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:53:33 +0000

I’ve noticed a lot of comments from people who’ve taken part-time positions in hopes of catching something full time later on. I’ve done something similar – I took a full-time but temporary position, and am now looking for something permanent.

Lots of people are asserting that it’s important to be willing to work part time, but according to AL, aren’t part time and temporary positions “library jobs that suck?”

I don’t agree with much of what Joyce is saying, but I will say this: AL is asinine. The lack of empathy – the derision – expressed toward new library colleagues is childish. The real problem isn’t that library schools are “puppy mills” or that new librarians are suckers for believing all this talk about impending retirements. The problem is librarianship is AL’s toy, and nobody else is allowed to play with it.

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:41:31 +0000

Please do not feed the Trolls.

By: Axel Rose

Axel Rose — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:38:43 +0000

Dustin, kindly go sit on a vibrator.

By: joyce

joyce — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:30:28 +0000

Once again all you do is make fun of people who have attempted to better themselves. Yes they should know that an on line degree will likely lead to heart ache. However, this is the same kind of propaganda that led most of the American population to over spend on housing believing that housing will always go up. Education is nothing but a big business and there is little regard as to what happens to people after they finish a “degree”. Instead of making fun why aren’t all of you “professionals” spreading the word. You all make me sick, librarians as mentors, more like nothing but bullies, especially the annoyed librarian – the biggest ego, bully, and useless professional of all.

By: joyce

joyce — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:22:13 +0000

I feel your pain. My daughter has been looking for many years and is now going for her certificate in web design. She is not a moron. Her resume has been gone over several times by professionals. Yet she too cannot get a job. And the response from people on this blog about my daughter getting a certificate in computers was basically that she could just pick that up – well duh she has. She works part time in a library on the computer help desk but still has no professional job. I don’t understand how half of these people, let alone annoyed , who puts down recent grads and does not mentor them, has a professional position.

By: Regular Guy with MLS

Regular Guy with MLS — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:00:53 +0000

I’m not silly, like your invented character. I’m not a “moron,” and my resume doesn’t “suck,” as Dustin so professionally expresses it. I understand the reality of the job hunt, and the realities of the jobs themselves. I have library experience. I graduated in a year when there were zero library job openings in my state for an entire year. Zero. By the following year, when openings began to trickle in again, one at a time, I was competing for a job with grads from both the year before and the year after. I began looking before graduating. The openings were, as one would expect from retirements, not entry level. I’ve heard too often those with professional positions blaming those without for a) not having worked hard enough on their resume; b) not being willing to move; c) interviewing poorly; or d) just plain not being as intelligent, talented, or savvy as those with jobs. Just read Dustin’s very unprofessional entry. Now, why does someone who calls people “morons” and who uses the verb, “sucks” have a professional position, when many very qualified and far more professional candidates do not?