The cover ofthe October 15 Library Journal, “A Losing Game,” portrays new grads from the class of 2009 in a game of musical chairs, feverishly trying to dislodge the competition—those longtime librarians—from coveted positions. They aren’t having much luck because, of course, the game is rigged.
That’s the way new librarians see the job market. They did what they were supposed to do. They took out loans to pay their tuition, pursued a career they had a passion for and often regarded as a game-changer, worked hard, took internships, and often jockeyed school and jobs to pay the bills.
Then, the graying of the profession trumpeted more than a decade ago never materialized.
As one of “The Lucky Few” who wrote about their long but ultimately successful job searches (LJ 10/15/10, Karen Keys (Pratt, 2007) said, “By the time I graduated…we had wised up to the so-called graying of the profession.” Paraphrasing Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (“old Americans go out to the highways and drive themselves to death with huge cars”), Keys said, “old librarians push their books carts to the stacks before permanently checking out.” Molly Kelly (Dominican, 2008) put it more succinctly, and less brutally: “The economy’s downfall” put a stop to “the retirement exodus that would be happening just in time for me to graduate.”
Faced with a “nongraying” profession and a stalled economy that is taking its toll on library jobs, recent grads are understandably frustrated. Even for the “lucky few” who tell their stories in LJ, success has meant dozens of job applications and rejection letters; part-time, temporary, or nonprofessional positions; geographic dislocation; and money worries.
The statistics alone in this year’s Placements & Salaries survey (“Stagnant Salaries, Rising Unemployment”) are daunting. Of the nearly 2000 class of 2009 grads who reported their job status, 7.8 percent are unemployed, 10.6 percent are in temporary jobs, 19.4 percent are in nonprofessional employment, and 22.8 percent are in part-time positions. One positive outcome of the job crunch and the nongraying of the profession, however, has been a slight decline in the number of LIS graduates.
The floodgates may never open, but there are glimmers of change, as some sixtysomethings begin to make way for a cadre of forty- and thirtysomethings whom they hired and nurtured.
Despite the distressing numbers, there are a few bright spots. Writer Stephanie Maatta points to potentially “hot” specializations including archives and digital libraries, as well as intellectual property, copyright, and scholarly communications. The “Other” category—outside library and information agencies—continues to grow, accounting for a whopping 27 percent of placements in 2009, with jobs in private industry, hospitals, societies, even state agencies.
That’s not much consolation, however, for those who want to work in public or academic libraries. Yet, your skills are needed even more there. At Darien Library, CT, Gretchen Caserotti (a 2010 LJ Mover & Shaker) recently launched the Little Clickers program for both the pre-K crowd and their parents and caregivers. With social media and other technologies growing exponentially, you are the bridge to users and to those of your colleagues not comfortable with the new technologies. We need people (like Gretchen) who can combine tech skills with public service expertise. Most important, we need new librarians to participate in, create, manage, and lead the redefinition of libraries in the 21st century. We need you.
It seems clear to me that we do not "need" new librarians, at least not in the numbers that MLS programs are accepting. If less than half of all recent graduates have found full-time professional employment, why on earth would you encourage anyone else to enter the profession at this time?
Posted by Jeremy on October 26, 2010 01:25:49PM
Professional librarianship is great work if you can get it; however, I find unbelievable that a whopping 60.6% of new grads can't find full-time professional positions. These odds are almost as good as those of becoming a movie star. Every waiter in L.A. is either an aspiring actor or librarian. The economy really needs to improve.
Posted by Peter on October 26, 2010 05:11:19PM
Sounds like what they were telling us in teachers college, which is why I moved into libraries - but it seems there are even more old stawlarts there. I do know of one school library (more a media resource centre) in Australia though that faced with a greying department who refused to budge or change, simply advertised all the positions, forcing everyone from top to bottom, to reapply. I would love to move closer to family but cannot even get part time school library work as 2 old librarians are employed in every single one of the part-time contracts in local schools. I dream of the day a departmental reshuffle forces them to relinquish at least a couple of their part-time contracts to give younger professionals a go. How are we supposed to be mentored and develop our skills if we can't even get our foot in the door with a part-time role because older players are hogging all the opportunities?? (I have confirmed that at least one of these librarians knows nothing about IT and has expressed their disinterest in learning as they plan to retire in the next 5 years - what a loss for the students in their care!!)
Posted by Saoghal Beag on October 26, 2010 04:23:17PM
I wish this idea of a "need" would go away. There isn't a need to flood the market with more people who can't find full time work and find themselves taking on-call work, temporary work, part time assistant work for low pay. If the so-called "need" does ever become reality, it won't take long to bring people in. The degree only takes about 1.5 yrs. to finish. And it's annoying to be told that it's just the 20 and early 30 somethings who are the tech savvy.
Many of us 30 and 40 somethings were never "nurtured." I remember "sink or swim" being the motto right after I was hired for my first job.
Posted by CH on October 27, 2010 07:23:46PM
"potentially “hot” specializations including archives"? How is aiming for a job market with less than 10,000 total professionals in the US going to improve the marketability of a recent library grad? How many professional librarian jobs are out there, comparatively? By the way, the same thing is happening in that field too: many recent grads from archives-specific programs are not getting permanent employment in the field. Potential retirees aren't retiring, and even when they do, it doesn't mean the jobs are being filled.
Posted by Arlene Schmuland on October 27, 2010 07:27:47PM
thankfully, I didn't experience the issue of not finding work after graduating. I completed my degree in 2007 and enjoy being a librarian. I think the issue of not finding a job can be experienced by any individual in any field. Teaching in public school used to be the ideal job because it was "safe" or at least that's what my parents said. They taught in the school system 30 years. I think obtaining employment is like anything else in life.. it's what you make it.
Posted by chris on October 28, 2010 03:16:43PM
It's not that we aren't retiring, it's that we're not being replaced when we do. I can't tell you how many librarians I know who have retired or left for other reasons in the last couple of years, and the positions were left unfilled or eliminated completely. Budget cuts are taking their toll on our profession. Could library schools have seen it coming? Probably not, but they certainly need to be very honest in their recruiting now, as should all academic programs.
Posted by Mary Ann on October 28, 2010 04:00:34PM
Ouch! As one of many over the age of sixty librarians in my system I'm cracking up reading some of these negative feelings about the greying librarians. Sixty is the new forty, remember? I have a theory about why so many of us are not leaving and it is this:
We came to librarianship from previous careers. For many of us this was a mid-life career change. We worked full time, raised our families and went to school nights and weekends so that we could do something we really love. Therefore, we haven't burned out yet. It's still fresh and wonderful to us and we can't be expected to retire early simply out of kindness for the next generation.
I've also got to say that my colleagues and I have been the first ones to jump on every new technology that's come down the pike. We pushed our system to get into e-mail and chat reference before others were doing it. We text reference with aplomb. We bought up those mp3's so we could show our customers how to download library audiobooks and each of us read on our Nooks and Sonys. Just sayin....
Posted by Sally Bissell on October 28, 2010 04:33:24PM
(Speaking as a younger librarian, albeit one who has never had trouble finding a new job, even in this economy) - The economy's downfall did not put a stop to the "retirement exodus" which would have occurred when the person who made the comment graduated. As someone who has been working in libraries since I was in college in the mid '90s, I can say with certainty that there was no planned "retirement exodus." Many, many librarians do not retire at 65, plain and simple.
(Just want to add my degree took two full academic years (16 courses) to finish (whoo!) and I had tons of paraprofessional work under my belt, which, I believe, is what got me a job straight out of library school... I also want to add that no early 30-something wants to be "nurtured." Please don't confuse us with Generation Y. In any case, nobody deserves a job just because they chose to take out loans and complete and often-expensive but easy degree. If you didn't do your research into the job market before going to library school, that's your fault. VERY LITTLE of what is going on in the library job market has much to do with the economy.
Posted by Liz on October 30, 2010 09:57:13AM
I graduated in 2008 and it took nearly 10 months for me to find my current job, and it's part-time. Although I'm frustrated with still hearing the litany from my bosses "you'll move up fast once people retire", I still feel pretty lucky. Nearly half of the people I've stayed in touch with from graduate school are either in a non-professional library position or working in another field and volunteering at a library until something opens up. And yet I know they are still spouting this "graying of the profession" nonsense in current programs. MLS schools need to be honest with their students.
Posted by Matt in Virginia on October 30, 2010 12:23:16PM
"Many of us 30 and 40 somethings were never 'nurtured.' I remember 'sink or swim' being the motto right after I was hired for my first job."
I took issue with the phrase "hired and nurtured", too. Surely the editor could not be stating that sincerely?
Posted by CB on October 30, 2010 03:50:30PM
Archives? there are no more full time positions in archives
http://eatingouryoung.wordpress.com/
Posted by nope on November 2, 2010 01:06:46PM
All I can say is, working your way up the paraprofessional ladder then looking for a full time librarian job after working a few years in the real world is the way to go. While juggling paraprofessional work an MLIS coursework isn't easy, it certainly gurantees that the experience will be there when one goes out into the field. Hiring a librarian straight out of library school without library experience seems like a fool's proposition, especially because what is taught in MLIS programs and the realities of public institutions do not reflect each other.
Posted by John Thill on November 3, 2010 04:21:03PM
"All I can say is, working your way up the paraprofessional ladder then looking for a full time librarian job after working a few years in the real world is the way to go. While juggling paraprofessional work an MLIS coursework isn't easy, it certainly gurantees that the experience will be there when one goes out into the field."
Agreed. The above suggestion should be done before graduation, not after. Waiting until after graduation to do this in the good times meant years or perhaps permanent unemployment and often not being able to find any work in the field, professional or otherwise. Those who moved into professional jobs shortly after graduation (say within six or seven months)are later years ahead of those who moved into para pro positions post graduation, unless those positions offered the graduate a chance to work professionally, but unfortunately not get paid for it.
Posted by CH on November 4, 2010 05:18:43PM
It makes me very angry that my daughter who graduated with honors with her BA has spent two years getting an MLS and almost two years now trying to find a job, without being told about the market. Before she went for her degree she asked and I asked and was told there were plenty of jobs. She is now looking into another career. She has also done an internship since graduation and taken courses toward an archives certificate (even more dismal than librarianship). I have been the one to tell her she is beating a dead horse. She worked in libraries in college, and worked for the college archivist. In high school she worked in libraries. She was born to this, but it looks like it is not to be.
Posted by joyce on November 8, 2010 12:52:51AM
Yes, I've heard this lament by many recent grads. Another
factor is that the economy is very bad and budgets are tight.
Even if many librarians are retiring, their positions are
frozen and they aren't being replaced. More traditional
librarian work is being done by clerks and paraprofessionals.
Instead of the graying of the profession, it could almost be
called the dying of the profession.
Posted by Kim on November 8, 2010 09:56:22AM
Got my degree in this field 10 yrs ago next April. My 2 cents: Every other grad degree(MBA, JD, etc) you get will prepare you to be a manager, except this one. This one prepares you to just be a librarian and unfortunately that's what so many of us want to do while never moving up. 75% of the job announcements I see these days are for directors. I am one; I moved up! Why didn't more do that when they entered the field 10-15 years ago? Because they weren't required to. If they had there would be more entry-level positions today as those folks stood ready to take all of the graying, retiring directors job. This will never change until the profession itself changes and puts itself on par with an MBA requiring more of the schools and the people who complete the program.
Posted by MT, Library Director on November 10, 2010 10:38:22AM
Entry level positions? I never had one, but started out in a small library in low level management. Don't entry level positions go to assistants now, at least in public libraries?
Posted by on November 12, 2010 01:08:42PM
@CH. "And it's annoying to be told that it's just the 20 and early 30 somethings who are the tech savvy" I found that to be really patronizing as well.
I am 49 and have been using computers since the 80's. I was among the first to use email on the job in 1994. These people who are close to retirement think it is rocket science to use Twitter. I think it took me an entire 8 seconds to learn it. However, young people [and of course I don't mean everyone] can be almost unteachable when it comes to something like Excel.
I GOT NEWS FOR YOU. JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW TO CHAT, AND DO FACEBOOK DOES NOT MAKE YOU TECHNICALLY PROFICIENT.
Thank you. I had to teach all the 20 somethings that I supervised how to do it, and some of them just couldn't get it. Why? Because you have to know basic math (percentages, statistics etc.)
I graduaated in 2006, found nothing. Took another job at a book wholesaler, and now I m back on the job market. I would still like to work in a library. But I am not moving to North Dakota to do it. So if I have to do something else I will. I will not accept something substandard like "Saturday and Sunday with a mandatory tuesday afternoon." I would do alternate weekends, but the weekday shift would make it impossible to get another job in addition to it.
Posted by Pigbitin Mad on January 14, 2011 04:06:21PM
Unfortunately in my library the "graying" librarians are not so quick to jump on the technology bandwagon. More than half of our department is sitting back riding out their jobs until they can retire. They have no interest in their jobs, as these are not the jobs they went to grad school for, and refuse to embrace new technology. It's a nightmare and I can't wait to welcome new blood into our library.
Posted by Leigh on May 19, 2011 08:23:51PM
I wish I could get a refund on my education. Now I am overqualified for many other fields and am competing with hundreds of applicants for library positions in my state. This is after being told that there are more positions in my state than there are librarians to fill them. I honestly would have been better off going to beauty school.
Posted by Bitter Betty on August 16, 2011 06:02:57PM
Libraries do have a need for young blood, and I believe it has
nothing to do with technological proficiency. We (young
librarians) are part of a completely different generation than
the baby boomers and gen x-ers. We have fresh eyes, we are
active in our communities, and we want to be a part of the
changes in our profession. We just need the chance.
