r/librarians

This article highlights 15 free library services that many people don't realize exist, from repair cafés and tool lending to museum passes and telehealth services.

What do you think is the most overlooked service at your library?

I'm definitely going to look into #1 first, and then see what else is out there in my area.

Hi everyone, this is my first Reddit post but I’m a 25 yr (M) who recently just finished their bachelor’s program in Liberal Studies. For the past 3 years I’ve been working in customer service in a terrible job that has weighed heavily on my mental health. Anyways, I got this degree as a stepping stone to becoming a librarian (I know I’ll eventually have to get my masters). The thing is, my county has a Librarian Assistant II job available and they are only asking for an associates degree (which I also have), customer service experience ( which I have) and of course, library experience (I don’t have that). I applied to the job anyway ( it pays way more than my current job and I think I would be a good fit for the position) and I even wrote a cover letter expressing my desire for the position and what I could contribute.

I guess my question is, do you think it’s possible for me to get this job? My long term goal is to be a librarian professionally and I feel this job would benefit me tremendously but I do know how competitive the job market is for library positions. Due to my lack of experience in the library, I am afraid they will pass me over. Does anybody have any tips or suggestions on what I could do to secure the job if I am able to get an interview? Anything would help, even harsh realities.

Hello everyone! 23M here. I work in a library and have worked in one for over 3 years. Still finishing my Bachelor's at The College of New Jersey (one more semester, yay!) but with that said, I have thought about the future. My major is History... So, gotta think wisely. Law is not it as of now. Which is why people around me have influenced me to go for an MLIS, which I believe I would enjoy, especially for the archival aspects, or simply because I love people and helping out.

With that said, I am in NJ. Rutgers has been recommended to me but... It's so damn expensive. I don't have student loans, thankfully, but as a first-generation, I also don't have people that would help me with that kind of money, nor I want to be in loans forever (especially as we know our industry pretty well). It would be online, 100%.

If it helps, I am interested in three industries/positions: archiving, cataloging, or law librarianship.

Which is why I've been thinking about different options.

1. University of Alabama: cheapest option, probably the one I would absolutely go for have it not be for the fact I wanted to see whether other programs are worth it. My favorite so far. It has an archiving concentration. It's also cheap. Secondary-wise, now I can finally have a say in college football season... Maybe.

2. Rutgers: NJ's flagship state school. I would still have to pay and from what it seems, it's pretty expensive. My boss have told me that they offer up to half the tuition off or even full tuition aid. Now, I don't know about that, but I also happen to be on the "under represented" category in the library industry, being Hispanic and first-generation and also trilingual. I don't know if that's beneficial scholarship-wise. Additionally, it's my state and it would help me here but... It's a lot of money. A LOT. Expensive. And as much as I love libraries... I don't think the amount of debt would be worth it for the same ALA-accredited degree.

3. University at Buffalo: close to it regionally, additionally being a tad bit cheaper than Rutgers but like, still a bit more expensive than Alabama. I was researching and it has a law librarianship concentration, which is quite interesting. There's a joint degree too with a JD... But I got to find more information about it. I haven't researched more about this program, but from what I've found, it seems okay. Then again... I don't know if paying that much more and being in more debt is worth it compared to Alabama.

4. University of Maryland: my professor's daughter said she loves the program and apparently has a joint program for an MA in History... This is among the most expensive programs out there. I don't know.

5. University of Washington: Best MLIS Law program. Most expensive MLIS with Syracuse. Don't know if it's worth it. When I say I'm poor, I mean it.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much!

So it was brought to my attention that I'd be a good fit for a PhD in library science (while I'm still in my MLS program). So I naturally started looking and whew! I landed on a thread from this subreddit a few years ago where everyone said it wasn't worth it, but like... did anyone actually do it and enjoy it, or is it just pain points all the way down to its core as a doctoral degree? I've previously considered a PhD in other areas, like what I have a bachelor's in, but never in library science. Curious what everyone thinks! TIA!

...and it's been received very well. I'm a firm believer in physical collections, and so far the results from our community have justified the implementation.

Annecdotally, as an avid user of our collection, tonight I'm watching The Hunt for Red October on UHD and it's amazing. Also recently checked out Speed Racer (so many colors), Heat (a great ass), and Point Blank (I love Riches Stark). If it's something you've been considering, I highly recommend.

I have an interview for a part-time position next week. It would still allow me to be creative keep my retirement, and possibly be a very good fit for my family and our schedule, while also allowing me more days a week with my children.

While scheduling my interview, I read that I have to give a mini-storytime presentation to a room of adults, but since it's a job that works with children, I need to act like I'm doing it for kids so they can see "how warm and engaging I would be". I am struggling and overthinking it. They want me to read a book, sing a song, and do a movement or fingerplay activity in less than 5 minutes.

If kids were actually there, I could do it no problem, but I'm struggling about the idea of being a professional answering their questions in the interview and then bouncing over to being goofy and silly especially since I have no idea if the presentation is at the beginning or end. And then I worry about overdoing it, or being cheesy or it coming across as patronizing.

Any advice? I would love a pep talk from anyone who has any knowledge about this!

I'm early-mid career in academic libraries. I've been at my job for several years and am looking for a new challenge at a different academic library. I found several job postings that look great - great areas, universities, and salaries. However, I'm curious about whether employees are required to contribute to social security on top of the university/state retirement plan. I live in a state with no income tax and my institution doesn't require us to contribute to social security. Moving to a state with income tax, state retirement contribution, AND social security contribution could easily negate a salary increase. This information isn't always readily available on university websites. Would it be weird for me to cold-email their university HR department and ask while my application is still pending in their system?

I was always told not to talk about finances until you get a job offer, but the mental labor of customizing application materials and going through 2 interview cycles seems like a lot just to get to the end and realize I can't afford to take the job. Any advice?

After almost two decades in K-12 libraries, I've landed a job in a local public university library. I'm thrilled; the pay is good, the team seems great, and there's a strong union. My previous role had a lot of mission creep and eventually became really unsustainable (hey, the kids like you and trust you and we don't have enough counselors or a learning center: talk them through their emotional problems, help them scaffold their assignments, sub their classes when their teacher calls in sick but also don't leave your desk for too long because we need someone babysitting them in the library, etc etc etc.) and I'm looking forward to having a more narrowly defined role.

I don't know anyone else who has made this sort of switch from K-12 to academia and I'm wondering if any librarian here has done it and has any advice or guidance on how things are both different and the same. What has surprised you? Did you bring anything with you, skills or materials wise, from K-12 that really helped?

So some months ago I made a post that turned out to be pretty controversial. I asked this community if it's worth it to stay at a part-time job at a library that has just unionized (despite the job currently having low pay) and wait for the contract to be established, or if it's better to jump ship and look for something more realistic for my current needs.

(You can look back at the post on my profile, it's admittedly messy and I got defensive. Sorry about that. And update, I'm still at the job, though actively looking for a job with a better commute and better pay. The job market has slightly improved, so I'm hopeful for the first time in a long time. And no matter what I'm getting a tiny raise which will mildly improve my hourly wage, and I may be able to work slightly more hours in the future. Gotta celebrate small victories.)

I have to admit though, I am shocked that it seemed like a lot of people have super mixed or even negative opinions on library unions. I have to admit, as I've worked with my library's union, I've certainly experienced some questionable things. But ultimately, we have made great progress towards getting a contract established, and almost everyone I've talked to irl loves their unions and seem to be very supportive of unionization.

So I want to take a step back and open it up to some more general questions - What have your experiences been with your library unions? Do you think unionization is worth it? What are the pros and cons? What are the best benefits your union offers? Or has your union screwed you over? 😅 Open to all voices and opinions!

TL;DR: I can't afford to work in my library anymore, so then what?

I work at a small public library as a Public Services Assistant, which is the rough equivalent of a Library Technician/Circulation Assistant role. In my eight years of work experience (I started working when I was 16), I have never felt more at home in a work environment and culture, and I absolutely love what I do: helping people.

However, like many library roles, it is only 19 hours a week--no more, no less. I'm going through a separation and am taking over the last few months of the lease, so I literally can't afford to work this job by itself. The library is through the city, so the hours are strict, and there is little to no turnover; people in full-time roles have been here for 10+ years.

I've applied and interviewed for several PT library jobs in the area, but it is ROUGH out there for both library and non-library jobs. Even though I *currently* work at a public library, have a Bachelor's degree, and have an offer to the MLIS program at UW-Madison online, that *still* isn't enough (or is, perhaps, too much) for most employers. I just interviewed for a PT Administrative Assistant role at another library, but the HR representative advised that I won't hear back for at *least* two weeks.

As a fallback plan, I applied to a local credit union for a full-time Teller position...and they offered me the job this morning. The credit union has unbelievable benefits; I wouldn't have benefits if I worked the two PT library jobs separately (if the other library offers me the role). Though, I'm cover under my Dad's H/V/D benefits for another year and a half.

When I applied for the MLIS program in early December, I thought I wanted to be in a more back-end role--but I've grown to love the community relationships and interactions more than anything…so I don't even know if an MLIS is the way to go anymore, especially since experience matters much more than education in this field nowadays (from what I've heard).

If I leave my library, I will be devastated; we are a family--staff, volunteers, and patrons alike. But I feel like my hands are tied. Saying no to this opportunity at the credit union would be a massive leap of faith in hopes that I receive an offer for the other PT library position, but I've taken so many leaps of faith to no avail, and my ability to make rent is jeopardized by this.

People who have been in a similar situation and gone either way, pursued an MLIS or not, etc., I would love to hear from you. I recognize the privilege I have to be in this position, but I still feel trapped between a rock and a hard place. I have to decide by tomorrow afternoon. SOS!

I only started working in libraries about 4-6 ish months ago so I’m still relatively new and in a very small branch.

Last week a customer assaulted one of my coworkers (threw something at her) and received a 2 year ban as this wasn’t his first instance of throwing things at staff and had several previous bans. I happened to be on shift during this incident but was not the target and while I saw the customer I didn’t retain his features well as I hadn’t seen him before.

Today I customer came in and I thought it was the banned person. They both have short dark hair, wider faces, clean shaven, and are about 5’6 with similar builds. I was kind of frosty with this customer and started printing the notice of ban letter when my coworker said the customers name and hello. I hadn’t asked him to leave or anything, just that I might not be able to help him at the moment.

I feel so bad. I totally mixed them up and was rude in letting them know we may not have computers available for them. I hadn’t said anything specific as I knew the banned customer can get aggressive and was trying to stall as best I could until someone was on desk with me as backup. But it wasn’t him. Has anyone done this before? What was the resolution? I feel terrible that I was rude

Hi everyone! Basically, I've been working part time as a library technician at an academic library for about 3 years and love it but I've been actively searching for a full time position so I could move out to a more queer friendly area, but have had little success even getting to the interview stage.

For the first time in the literal years I've been applying, I was asked to interview and ended up making it to the final round interview. It's still in an academic library but with way different responsibilities, basically working in the makerspace and I'm...terrible with technology and any kind of machine. It's also on the other side of the country where I know literally nobody.

I feel like I've been so desperate for a full time position for so long I should just take it to have a job. In an ideal world, I'd get to stay in my state in a city only a few hours away from my family in case anything happens. I don't know if I should take the job opportunity, if offered, or keep trying in my home state. I know the job market is really bad, so maybe I should just suffer through it for a year or two until I'm able to come back?

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I work as a branch assistant at a medium-sized city library system. When hired I was doing reference and archival work, partially because I was in an MLIS program. The implication was that I would be keeping those responsibilities.

Well, our children’s librarian recently up and quit suddenly, so I was moved to help that department. I hate it. I respect children, and those who work with them, but I do not like this job change, especially during summer programming. It makes me miserable. I’m almost finished with my MLIS program and I’m afraid they’re going to offer me the children’s librarian position.

The kicker is—I’m still responsible for the archival work, and the numerous adult programs I run, but now I have to run the children’s department as well. It’s stressing me out.

I know I’m lucky to even have a job in this field at all, and to have the potential for a promotion. But this is not the job I was hired to do. It’s not the job I want. I think it’s time to start looking elsewhere. I just needed to vent.

I would like to preface that I am not from the USA, so the situation might be different here. Nevertheless, I still think it is worth getting feedback from librarians regardless of country.

I am a fresh Media and Communications Bachelors graduate planning to take my Masters degree very soon. I am thinking of either taking Masters in Library Science or Masters in Media Studies. Some people have been saying that librarian work is relatively low stress and that the work-life balance is good.

I plan to have a stable and relatively non-busy job while being able to do my personal projects (indie game development) on the side. Which is why I am interested in librarian work.

Has work-life balance been good for you as a librarian that you could work on other projects or hobbies? Is it worth getting a Masters in Library Science degree?

Hello library people! Looking for some advice and other perspectives.

I am an instruction librarian. During interviews, I made it clear to the IT team that I had no interest in generative AI and was glad that they did not have any classes on it. I explicitly stated that I disagreed with its use for ethical and sustainable reasons, and my boss shared my opinion.

Shortly after starting this job, my boss told me that our library entered a year-long partnership with a large tech corporation to provide AI education to the public and to library staff. We'll be given lesson plans but will have freedom to make changes as needed to suit our specific audience, and we'll be required to provide at least 2 of these classes per week for around a year. The library is receiving a large sum of money from the tech corporation as well, to be spent on the IT department, so it functions as a kind of grant.

Some of my concerns are as follows:

• How can I provide an ethical education on applying gen AI to the people's lives when my library has been paid by one specific (and major) corporation? How can I avoid feeling like I'm a salesman for a tech corporation, rather than a librarian?
• How can I provide classes on applying for jobs and creating resumes while simultaneously providing classes on using gen AI instead of human beings for clerical work? Do I tell the classes about each other?
• How can I provide an education to people at all when I feel as though educating them on this specific topic is rotting my soul?
• Is it better to leave even though I enjoy the rest of this job, or to stay since I can at least have some control over the education library staff and customers receive on this subject?

I am really unsure of how to handle this ethically. I am well educated on LLMs in general and keep up with news about it, because I am an information professional; it's our responsibility to know how to help people with information searching, and that includes knowing about the ways in which people are doing it on their own. However the thought of teaching people about how to use it, with money given to my library from one massive corporation, and without extensive review of the countless ethical and sustainable concerns, is filling me with dread.

I am not looking to debate the sustainability or ethics of gen AI--I am looking for advice on how to handle this kind of situation in an ethical way. Part of me feels like I was tricked into taking this job without knowing about their plans for this partnership, and the other part of me just feels like this side of librarianship is not one I want to be on.

Thank you for any advice you all might have!

Hello! I am a student who is doing his bachelor's in Library and Information Science (not ALA I know but it's still good to have) and I was wondering what would be good to know/practice/learn/do to prepare for public librarianship. I've started a "learn to use Excel course" as I don't have much experience with that. Is there anything else I can do in the meantime? Thank you so much!

Just wondering how my firm compares to others. We are a team of 5 full-time research/law librarians for a large firm (500+ lawyers). A friend of mine in a smaller firm has a team nearly twice the size. Other than us, we don't know any other law librarians to gauge what is normal. Wondering how other firms compare, if anyone is willing to share? We are both in Canada.

I'm applying for a job that is librarian adjacent but for which I am very much qualified. However, the instructions ask for a résumé instead of a CV, which I've used for the past 15ish years. I've been in the workforce for a while (more than 20 years) and having some issues with how to rewrite my CV into a résumé. I'd appreciate any tips you might have, especially:

*Should I list dates for jobs? Should I list all jobs I've had post-undergrad? The timeline will be obvious to anyone who looks at my publications list.

*Should I list responsibilities/accomplishments for each position, especially ones that may not be relevant to this position?

*Should I write an "applicant profile" to sum up all the things (read this on Ask a Manager).