Thursday, November 18, 2004

Zealous Pursuit

Prior to my zealous pursuit for the title of Library & Information Scientist, I spoke with several librarians who assured me they loved their jobs so I thought to myself, 'now would be a great time to change careers.' After all, there are only so many playgroups a mother can swallow with an innocuous smile, eh? And hey, I love research and to be honest I'm a bit of a bibliophile. After signing my life away in student loans I joined a librarian listserv. Damn. Who knew?

Librarians are pissed off. They don't get paid enough, they’re not taken seriously enough, and there seems to be long, deep division between academic librarians and public librarians. Not to mention, the granddaddy of all fault lines between 'paraprofessionals' (working librarians without a masters) and those with an MLIS.

Hmmm, it all sounds a little familiar, perhaps a little like the poetry world?

I've decided not to let all this deter me. I mean, it's not as if it's a choice between a career as a librarian and a career as an investment banker--right?

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This afternoon I received this cheery news:

'If Buffalo, NY adopts their 2005 Red Budget, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library will close all 52 branches. No services at all. For anyone. '

Media Specialist is starting to have a nice ring, almost a lilt.


6 comments:

Ivy said...

Suzanne, that sucks about the libraries closing.n *sigh*

Suzanne said...

Ivy,
It does suck doesn't it? I hope people catch wind of it and put their congressmen to use.

noi said...

They never seem to think libraries matter. Those should be the last things closed.

-vp-

LKD said...

Hi, Suzanne! There's a college or university in your area that offers an MLIS? I just graduated in May--finally--with my BA in English, and after vacillating between an MA, an MFA, an MLIS and possibly even an RN, agonizing over those 4 choices and just plain wasting time all summer, I finally did decide on the MLIS since it was the original impetus that sent me back to school 6 long years ago. I haven't applied yet---have til March, I think--but I will be sending an application to Kent State (which has a very good program) and possibly Pitt, too. I've been stuck in Ohio for years now, and have longed to move back east. I had intended on doing the MLIS on the coast but a few years back when I was looking for schools, I couldn't find any in New England. So....tell me where you're going or planning to go. If you know of any schools with a good MLIS program in Maine, New Hampshire or Massachusetts, lay 'em on me, baby. (meanwhile...I know I searched on the internet recently, and recall still not finding any schools on the coast with library programs....)

Laurel

ps: Out of curiosity, what pointed you towards an MLIS?

LKD said...

Oh, and hey...you know Jim Zola (the man of a thousand names, ha ha) is a children's librarian, right? I recall talking to him about my career choice years ago when I was new on the boards. I think he loves the his job even if the pay is shit.

Suzanne said...

Velma, I'm with you!


Laurel,
I would love to chat with you about schools and motivations--drop me an email. My computer crashed last month and I lost all my contact info. so I don't have yours.