I feel sorry for the daughter, and know I probably wouldn’t hire the daughter if I susppected she came attached with this Mother. Fortunately for the daughter, most librarians don’t read this blog and therefore won’t know about a recent grad as descibed here. The bigger picture, though, is that what is going on in the library world is a reflection of what’s going on in nearly every profession.

It’s tough out there for everyone, and no one is “entitled” to a job. If this is what she really wants to do, she’ll stick it out, but if someone once told her that it would be easy, then that’s the person you should be angry with.

I would probably read Annoyed more often if the writer wasn’t quite so self-effacing and humble.

We’re talking about library staff helping a patron find information in a database that contains legal information. It’s okay for library staff to provide this type of assistance, right?

People could answer these questions, but let me do you one better – you are barking up the wrong tree.

The question you should really be asking is “was it as difficult for all of you to get a job?” Certainly, some of us (especially the older ones) probably came into librarianship during better times. The younger ones who got their MLS in the past 10 to 12 years (like me) had a hard time. I sent out close to 70 applications before anyone contacted me. Some libraries, especially the larger systems, didn’t contact me for many months – up to a year.

The only thing I can tell you is that it is good your daughter has a job working as a paraprofessional. I will warn you that this is her job interview – at least it would be in my library. We have several MLS graduates working for my system and we monitor them carefully. If a person doesn’t seem like they would become a good librarian, then they will likely get blown over for someone who can.

Finally, this isn’t just about us – the hiring situation exists in all industries and venues. Just having the requisite experience or degree is no golden ticket, with the exception of nursing, perhaps. Add to that the fact that very few retirement age employees are retiring due to investment fears and insurance problems and you can see what the picture looks like.

No one wants to see your daughter suffer. There just isn’t that much we can do about it. My library system hasn’t seen a raise or cost of living adjustment for four years now. We have people retiring and their positions being absorbed by the system to make up for budget gaps. With state aid going the way it is, it is quite possible we may start actively laying off workers next year.

Want to help? Solve the housing crisis and bring up the tax rolls. More than likely that would help your daughter get a job as compared to complaining on some random internet forum.

As for the rest of your comment — Wow. I’m not going to respond to these further attacks, but I do want to point out that quite a number of us gave good advice and supportive comments to you, ignoring the personal attacks. Some of us are young, fairly recent grads ourselves. And this is how you respond. Good thing your daughter doesn’t know.