The Unemployed Librarian

The hunt for jobs is brutal right now - for everyone. It's on the nightly news, local news, in the local newspapers, all over CNN and Yahoo - no one can find a job.

And it's all the more infuriating when you have a Masters degree (believe me, I know) and know you have the skills to tackle just about anything, but you still aren't employable.

Now, I'm not a librarian, nor do I have a library science degree, but it seems to be a common theme that I have picked up on from the library community: librarians, certified librarians, can't find jobs.

It's not really surprising to me: Every school in Philadelphia, that's 250+ schools, used to have a librarian. Now only about 50 do. Obviously, grim prospects if you wanted to be a school librarian, and unfortunately, most urban and rural school districts haven't fared any better than Philadelphia.

One article describes the librarian's disheartening state as this:

"Regardless of prior professional experience in another discipline or some type of work experience within libraries or information agencies, the job search was lengthy for the 2010 graduates—even for those who ended up in temporary or part-time positions. Some spent three or four months landing a job only to end up unemployed again after only a couple of months when economics caught up with their employers. Respondents remarked that the job search felt interminable after being dropped back into the job market unexpectedly. Graduates also expressed frustration with potential employers who did not take time to acknowledge the receipt of résumés; the grads found not knowing worse than outright rejection. Some grads decided to delay the job search until 2012 in hopes that the job market would turn around or at least ease. The lucky ones found employment before or upon graduation. Such coups did not, however, guarantee either permanence, stability, or a professional position. "


And even more recently, is this article by a Spring 2012 library science grad who, like so many, can't find a library job.

The big question is: even when the economy turns around, will we see the unemployment rates for librarians decrease? Or will cities and school districts try to avoid hiring librarians by arguing that the internet and iphones and ipads means that librarians are outdated? (Obviously I don't think that, but cutting corners is the new big thing).

I think it's up to librarians, and schools of library science, to let us know what they can offer. Somehow they need to convince everyone else that they are as necessary as teachers in a classroom. A classroom can't run without a teacher, and a library shouldn't run without a librarian.

Let's advocate, librarians.