Librarians on the DDBB?

[PaulaO]

I am a librarian, got my MLS in 1981. I love my profession and my job. I've always been a medical librarian and have been in my current position (hospital librarian) for 15 years. My plan is to retire from this job in 3 years.

Tulsa and scruffy also,have their MLS (or are working on it). Anyone else? Librarianship and dressage seem to complement each other.

[hoopoe]

I think, as a child, if someone told me that you could study to be a librarian , i would have. I loved the library in my neighborhood. It felt like a sanctuary. I worked in the library at schools in late Elementary to early HS.

I liked the order, peace and the friendly librarians. It was what I needed in my world. Not sure what happened to lose that feeling, I felt the library in our HS was unwelcoming and someplace one did not go.

My sister left classroom teaching to get her Library Science certification and spend the second half of her career as a Grade School librarian. Now retired, she regularly substitutes in the school district and sometimes sees High Schoolers she met back when they were in Kinder. They always as about her story bear , Huckleberry.

[WheresMyWhite]

I am loosing my marbles. This morning when I read this I saw "librarian"...

This time when I read this I saw "libertarian" - the elections are frying my brain, what little is left

[Srhorselady]

Okay...another librarian here! I got my MA in Librarianship from Univ of Ca Berkeley back when it was accredited in 1973. I took cataloging classes and "typed" catalog cards! (OMG). I spent 30 years in a Public library doing everything from children's librarian to history specialist to Branch Manager to Acqusition Center Supervisor to management. I loved my job when it was about books and research...not so much when it became computers and social services. I also worked part time in a Community College Library, but found it a little staid, stuffy, and full of education politics instead of library service. I will NEVER regret my library career, but when I look at what my former colleagues are doing now I'm glad I retired when I did. Also I agree there is something about "organizing knowledge/information" and dressage that makes them go together intellectually and emotionally.

[PaulaO]

Srhorselady, I FLUNKED the "filing catalog cards" module 3 times in library school! I'm happiest when I get a difficult clinical question, usually involving some obscure oncology protocol.

[VBOpie]

Becoming a librarian was a mid-life event for me. I earned my MSLS from Catholic University in 1998. At the time, if you wanted to go to library school and you had to stay living in Virginia, Catholic was it - online degrees were just emerging. I just earned a post-master's certificate from San Jose State University. I wanted to update my professional knowledge - and there's nothing like the classroom to do it. Loved the program!

I spent most of my professional life in for-profit academic institutions. I did a stint in a corporate library during my initial grad school, worked in a traditional academic institution after grad school, and, just before my current job, worked in a hospital library. Except for the traditional academic institution, all of my jobs have been solo (or with just a one or two person staff). I like that because I like "running the show" and having the opportunity to dabble in all the roles of a librarian - reference, cataloging (although it's just copy cataloging), research, instruction, collection development, etc.

I love the profession. The sad part is that it is not a particularly financially rewarding career. You won't get rich being a librarian, but there are so many interesting and different things you can do with the degree.

[VBOpie]

Srhorselady,

I respect you for being able to be a children's librarian - that, and law librarianship, are my ideas of library hell. I volunteered at the church library once, and all those little children's books drove me crazy<LOL>

[Chisamba]

Will there still be libraries in ten years? I hope so.

[VBOpie]

Chisamba, I like to think there will be libraries in 10 years. They might look a little different than they do now and offer different services, but they'll be there. The main job of librarians is helping people connect with information and resources. I think people will always need that. Plus, a lot of people still like the library as a physical place.

[PaulaO]

Ten years ago everyone asked the same question "will there be still be libraries since soon we will have a paperless society?" HA! There is still a ton of paper everywhere, including libraries. I think public libraries have shifted their emphasis--yes, books are still there, but libraries are looked to as community gathering places and offer a wide range of programming, especially for kids. I go to my town's branch, which is less than a mile from my house. It offers a Read to Rover program, a media bank (like Redbox), computer stations, a study area, a supposedly quiet area, nature walks, play areas for kids (don't get me started on the noise level). It is busy every time I go there.

I serve primarily physicians, and all of my resources are electronic. Physicians (and all hospital staff) have access to all our resources, but they come to me (and my partner in library crime) because WE are the experts. They are the subject experts, but we are the navigational resource experts. That is our job. It is not the job of the physician to know how to look stuff up (that's a very basic explanation of what I do--my friend said I have a degree in "look it up") And it's not just the older physicians, even the youngster come to us.

I can ramble about libraries for hours....

[Srhorselady]

I think libraries will still be around in 10+ years. Throughout my career that was always the threat, but libraries evolve. We may not recognize or even like what they evolve into but the need to connect people and information will remain. A retired librarian friend just emailed me that her city's new Library Director is a former school principal who has never worked in a library, let alone have an MLS. This a city of 200,000 population with a central library plus a couple of branches. I'm rather apalled. I DO believe that a lot of the practice library skills can be learned on the job, but what about library service philosophy and ethics? Although I am conservative politically at one point in my career I had to deal with the FBI (who were threatening me with the Patriots Act) who wanted a list of people who had access to our public computers during a specific period. At other times I dealt with people who didn't like that we had books on a variety of subjects that they didn't approve of (ie witches including fantasy and fairy tales, Santa clause, Gay lifestyle, sex in general etc). Then there were the uncensored computers... Etc. I worry about a Library Director who hasn't been infused with the importance of freedom of access to information for everyone which I think is one of the most important concepts taught in Library School (it's a religion). And people think libraries are nice quit places...we had 300 plus for the singing cowboy in the library lobby (the horse wore a diaper bag). We also had a Shakespeare play and Lots of music programs. I once had to break up a knife fight. We did story times for developmentally disabled adults (this staff member was a saint). I got called out by the fire dept at 3am and then they told me to leave all the doors wide open until the smoke cleared...and then they all left! That library was at a shopping center with States highest auto theft rate. Ah PaulaO you bring back the war stories. Any way I DO feel strongly about the importance of libraries and I do think they will still be around...but I worry sometimes about the library service values. I also can ramble for hours...sorry.

[Astral]

Not a librarian, but I have a background in archiving, which is sort of related!

[angela9823]

Our libraries have job training as well. People are taught how to interview for jobs, how to find jobs etc. Libraries are also including single offices so people that work from home can have a place to go that is professional to meet with their clients, hold conferences etc. A lot of start up lawyers are using the Richland County Library (in Columbia, SC) for that reason. My book club recently went on a two hour tour of their library and it was amazing to me to find what all libraries are doing for the community these days. I think libraries have a great way of reinventing themselves and are great resources for people!

[PaulaO]

The current director of the National Library of Medicine (Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D.) is NOT a librarian. The current director (actually awaiting confirmation) of the Library of Congress (Carla Hayden, Ph.D) IS a librarian, the first LoC in decades, if ever. I don't know if one needs to be a librarian at that high of a position. You have to be a great leader and innovator.

[LeoApp]

I think I would have loved to be a librarian. I worked as a page in my town's public library all through high school and I knew how to find stuff than the Reference Librarians did. Patrons would always ask me questions and I would help them if I could. The librarians would get mad at me. I loved that job. I had a great boss and I didn't come home smelling like fast food. I kept the place organized, shelved books and magazines, and processed new books. I loved when we had the book sale and we always had interesting events taking place in the meeting room.

However, I think libraries are not as quiet as they used to me. At the library near my house now, there are always tutors tutoring kids in the middle of the room at tables, and they make a lot of noise. Actually everyone makes noise there now.

[piedmontfields]

I join this thread just to say that I love working with librarians. And I've never met a librarian I didn't like! When I worked in higher education curriculum development, I found librarians to be fantastic collaborators who were very creative at working across the curricula in effective ways to evolve student (and faculty) learning.

My DH is a manager of scientific software engineers (who are mostly physicists and engineers by training). He does have one staff member with an information science background (MIS), though, and she brings great perspective on user interfaces and the scientist user experience. The library/information science fields have evolved in some exciting ways.