r/librarians

I was hoping to see some examples of good resumes/cover letters. I've just started my job search, and I don't want to waste time sending things out when I could be missing something fundamental.

Hello! I’m currently in a position where I have to decide between an MLIS and an MAS. What are some of the major lifestyle and work differences between archivists and librarians? How about versatility in terms of the degree? Any information or insight helps!

I'm entering year 3 of my position (It's a new version of the clerk position essentially). No degree or library background. I feel like I've had plenty of good moments here and my evaluations have been solid since I've started; however, I still struggle with feeling what I bring to the table.

I'm good at remembering a lot of patron names which helps me create a relationship with them in various ways (simple circ desk help, computer assistance, etc.) and that's always been something I've been solid as is usually being good at being a people person. I'm 38 too. Tech savvy enough to help on the computers but no tech background or anything. Most of my jobs before this were rough.

I'm not a crafty person exactly either so creating programs around crafts hasn't come easy. I've tried video games but the majority of the youth here just stick to Roblox.

I've just been feeling really depressed lately and it makes me scared I'd be pushed out of my job at some point because I don't know what I bring exactly. 😢

I'm an unemployed ND and at the moment librarian is my dream job. (I majored in economics at an honors college but I love a good database and my favorite hobby has always been organizing all the media in my house and making descriptive catalogs of them. I also spend way too much time at my public library.)

I've missed out on some applications for "clerical aide" positions but I'm hopeful that this will work out eventually and I'd like to teach myself both the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress systems in preparation so I go in with an edge. But I can't find any resources online for learning this stuff! Does anyone know a good way to practice shelving books in preparation? I really want to get experience as a librarian and would even volunteer for free if I could find the opportunity.

As best I can tell, this isn't possible natively in WOS (correct me if I'm wrong), you can export to various citation manager formats like RIS, but I don't have one installed and would prefer not to install one. Is there some free online citation manager that could work with one of these formats or is there some different way entirely to get a bibliography from WOS?

Curious how different libraries handle marketing, I'm talking:

• Graphic design, flyers etc.
• Email newsletter design and build
• UX or look and feel of your catalogue
• Social media marketing
• Website updates

Do you centralise with your council/civic institutions or do you do it in-house? Curious because I usually see two iterations

1. Centralised by a marketing team in the wider council/civic institution
2. Run by librarians or techs who have no formal web dev, marketing or graphic design training.

What I never see is libraries hiring staff with concrete marketing skills. They'll look for someone to manage digital collections and just throw in design stuff as well when I kind of feel like that's a whole other job.

I used to be a web developer/graphic designer before I was a librarian and I find it wild how all this works compared to any other organisation I have ever worked in.

I just wanted to make a thread regarding the ALA scholarships, including the ALA Spectrum scholarship for anyone wanting to share updates, thoughts, or ask questions!

My 9 year old son loves books and libraries. He even requests to visit the local library when we travel.

He is also autistic and struggles with expressive and reciprocal communication, which we work on at home and in therapy. It can be challenging to find opportunities for him to practice interacting with adults as he tends to opt out unless he has an intrinsic motivation.

Recently, he has talked about wanting to be a librarian in th children’s section when he grows up. We've talked about what kinds of things he might do. He remembers fondly how a librarian gave him a peak at the circulation room when she noticed him trying to peak through the book return slots.

I asked if he would want to research that career over the summer and he said yes! He even was open to talking to a librarian. I cannot tell you how absolutely thrilled I am to hear him WANT to have a conversation with someone he might not know. This is HUGE for us.

Now I'm left wondering - is that an appropriate ask? The librarians that we knew so well from story time when he was younger are no longer at our branch so I don't have anyone I know I could ask. I appreciate all opinions and everything librarians do for our communities!

I was looking into university of Alabama’s MLIS and saw that they have synchronous meetings, but I was wondering if they had any courses in the morning or on a Friday?

I currently work in the afternoon and have noticed people say that they meet once a week M-Th starting at 6, but I would still be working.

If anyone has information please let me know!

I work as a school librarian (in Sweden) and got a request for "christian" books, the authors the student asked for specifically was John Piper and Paul Washer. I have no knowledge of either Piper or Washer, but made a tiny bit of research and deemed them not fit for a school library. My reasoning is their view on gender roles and dogmatic preaching respectively (as mentioned I haven't done a deep dive in to them). Now I'm looking for recommendations of other "chrisitan" litterature, alternativs to the kind of teaching Piper and Washer seem to stand for. Maybe something "softer" to counteract their viewpoint. I know nothing of christian literature, all recommendations welcome. The student is 14 or 15, male.

Hi! I have my first interview for a teen librarian position and I have no clue what to wear! I don’t know if like a longer skirt and nice top or sweater is acceptable or if I should go like full dress pants and blazer type thing or maybe a nice dress? I’ve only worked as an assistant which the interview was much more casual so this is the first time I’m interviewing for a librarian position! Any advice would be helpful as well!!

For me it’s the ten key. I can punch out isbns like nobody’s business and I credit that to one of my coding classes in high school stressing the value of using the ten key section of the keyboard.

Hi,

I'm reaching out with what might be considered a silly question but I'm looking for help when it comes to how to create subject headings.

I do mostly copy cataloging in my job but am coming to do more original cataloging and am struggling with creating subject headings and finding resources or how-to's. My question is, how do you know when to apply $x, $z or $v?

If anyone could be of help, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Hello. Our Purchasing team isn't as diligent as I'd like when it comes to not ordering AI resources. Is there a database that I can browse to confirm whether or not a resource is AI?

Hi everyone! I've been posting so much here recently, but appreciate all the help so much. So I'm trying to find MLIS programs that have concentrations/tracks for school librarianship. I currently work in a school as a library clerk and want to achieve my MLIS to one day be the Media Specialist, but also want an ALA Accredited degree to have public libraries as an option. From my research, here are the schools I've found that offer this:

- Valdosta

- University of Alabama

- University of Southern Mississippi

- Indiana University

- Maybe LSU or SJSU? Not clear on these two

Are there any others that stand out? Or if you're a school librarians: where did you get your MLIS? I'm in Georgia BTW

Thank you!

Hi!! I finally made my decision and am going to the residential University of Washington MLIS program in the fall. I’m moving to Seattle for the program and don’t know anyone in the area, are there any current/ incoming MLIS/iSchool students who want to chat and get to know each other? Or, if there’s group chat or something similar to get know each other ahead of time?

Let me know!:)

Hello! I was told in a different sub that this might be the better sub! So here we go lol

——

I’ve been working in libraries since I was in community college. This made me pivot my career choice and go for an MLIS degree (I start in the fall)!

But, the longer I work for public libraries, the more I realize….I don’t think I want to go that route (lots of reasons for that one, but the biggest one is…no money). However, I DO still want to get my MLIS because I love digitally maintaining data/metadata, cataloging, archiving, &c.

I’ve been told by a few people in passing “if you want to keep going with this degree, definitely look into digital asset management (DAM) jobs. I have my MLIS and do that for XYZ company."

I’m looking for guidance on people who have their MLIS (or don’t, I guess?) and do DAM for a living.

Could you tell me what you actually do? I’ve looked it up and I understand the basics of it, but I’d really love to hear from someone who actually DOES the job.

Do you find it challenging or pretty easy?

How has your MLIS helped you with this job? Or, if you don’t have your MLIS, how do you think it could have benefited you more with DAM?

Any information would be helpful and I appreciate your time!

Be well.

TLDR; my older, senior coworker keeps going to the store and for walks during work hours. I want to bring this up to our boss without causing drama or causing a rift.

Hey, so I have been working in public libraries for about a year now and it’s had its ups and downs. The biggest down however is one of my coworkers. She is in her 50s, a grade above me and recently has gone back to full time after her old contract which allowed her to pick her hours expired. The issue is she’s a part of what we call “the old guard” in the branches in our area.
They’re staff who have been around decades, are very set in their ways and quite frankly make life harder for the rest of us.

My main issue with this coworker however is that she will leave and go to the shop on average about 5 times a day. No matter how understaffed or busy we are she’ll just be very blatant about it, going off to literally do her groceries while still on the clock.

I’ve reached a boiling point after last Friday when all of our systems were down and people needed refunds for printing jobs. We were also extremely busy. It was just me, this coworker and our branch manager. I was running around like a headless chicken trying to fix everything while she went to the shop 40 minutes before closing and our branch head was in a meeting.

It’s infuriating because she’s simply bad at her job when she is there and will pile on more work on me needlessly.

I want to go to our branch manager about this (who is younger and very new) but I don’t want to cause drama (there is a history of this which has resulted in the newer staff getting run out of a job). Also because in other instances I get on great with her.

Anyone have any advice on how I’d do this and how to navigate what I didn’t realise would be such an intense political and social atmosphere in the library profession lol? If I could speak my mind I’d say never put me working with just her again and I don’t want her telling me what to do. But I think I’ll settle for complaining about the going the store.

Apologies for the rant and if this isn’t really suited for this sub!!

Two months ago I landed my first library job as a director in a rural library district.

I have 15+ years in management, non profits, and education. I know there was going to be a period of time I’ll be on the struggle bus trying to learn everything.

However…

The board has done very little to inform me about the community (I’m not from there), to help me get to know other organizations I should be working with, or any other info. I have 6 pt staff that, by their job description, are simply paid volunteers. They can do basic circulation, shelving, and help prep crafts.

When I asked to create a library assistant position out of one of the 6, I am meeting with resistance because the board wants me to completely handle all programming, and to be present for all programs. They also insisted that volunteers should be used to plan and facilitate programs.

I’ve been dealing with those issues, and figured things would get better over time.

This past week, 2 of the board members tried to bully me into inflating expenses and falsifying a report for an LSTA grant. I stood my ground and refused. The following day there were suddenly issues with several projects and outreach programs I had been working on. I was also told to cut out any summer reading programs that didn’t involve paying for a program or having someone come in for free. Any programs that would require staff had to be cut.

I love my staff and the community, and want to come up with a way to stay. I won’t commit crimes for it though.

Anyone have a productive suggestion for how to handle this issue?

TIA