Librarian "unpopular" job

[eleneariel]

From cnn.com's "Five of the most unpopular jobs"

Librarian
Studies have shown that librarians are expected to exit the profession en masse in coming years. The American Library Association Website quotes statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau indicating that more than one-quarter of all librarians will reach the age of 65 by 2009. A study published in the Library Journal found that 40 percent of library directors would retire by that same year.

In addition to the librarians expected to retire within the next decade, interest in the profession is waning among younger workers, according to the BLS. The situation is particularly dire for colleges and universities, which report the greatest difficulty in hiring librarians due to lower pay.

Graduates of library programs in 2004 reported an average starting salary of more than $39,000, an increase of nearly 3 percent over the previous year. The median salary for librarians is nearly $47,000, according to the BLS.


Huh.

Comments

[equuschick.livejournal.com]

Of course interest in library science is "waning" among younger workers, we're not teaching those younger workers how to read.

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

Much less to love reading, which I honestly believe a librarian should have. (Not that anyone who loves to read would be a good librarian, as is a common conception.)

[melyndie.livejournal.com]

I admit I'm one of these statistics. I've always been interested in the library, but the pay! Agh. Even if you get that graduate degree and can be more than a book-checker-outer person, the money is just not there.

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

It's not a well paid profession in general, no. I make good money for not having a degree, and it's certainly good money for a single woman living at home, but I'd hate to try to support a family on it.

[melyndie.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it's working for you because it is THE job for you. :-)

I saw a job opening at my local library that required a 4-year degree and demanded a truck load of skills and responsibilities, including dealing with the press, making speeches, organizing programs for the community, running the information desk, being bilingual, writing for the newspaper, plus all the other regular library duties. It paid $10-something an hour. While that wage isn't anywhere near minimum wage ($5.15), if a person has student loans from their degree, has a family, doesn't have another wage earner in the house, or any other kind of financial burden, it's just not going to make it. If you wanted to make $10-something an hour, there are a lot of other jobs you could take that are easier and don't require a degree. It seems unfair that this particular job demands so much, requires so much, yet pays off so little.

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

Oh my, that is a terrible salary to be expected to do all of that!

(Was this at the Library!?)

[melyndie.livejournal.com]

They also expect you to have extensive experience, not just with libraries in general, but with that particular library (how could that apply to you unless you've already worked there for years?!). My neighbor took the job, though, and as her husband works too, it must work out for her.

(No, not the Library! The Library! is in a different county. I wonder if they pay more there.)

[lilia2000.livejournal.com]

Thats terrible! Even though I'm not a librarian, I do work in a library and I think it would be a fun job! (just currently not for me) and the library I'm at now has a lot of younger people working at it. I really hope this statistic changes!

[ransomedsea.livejournal.com]

You know, I actually read that being a librarian may be one of the best jobs to have in the very near future. The only drawback, the article said, was that computers are taking over a lot of the work.

The reasoning for going into the librarian field was much the same as this article: that the current generation of librarians is mostly older and near retirement age and the want will be strong and the supply lacking, as most people never even consider it. I think they don't consider it because half the population hasn't even ever been to the library, either from not needing to or not wanting to. And those who have considered the profession probably think it as dead-end and soon-to-be unnecessary.

It's a sad state of affairs, so it is.

[eattheolives.livejournal.com]

That's very true. A lot of the library listserves I'm on talk about the "glut" of librarians, etc., but I don't see that, and it certainly won't be the case when a bunch of older librarians strat retiring.

Computers have tkane over a lot of the job, yes, but honestly, just the boring parts. =) We're still overworked, but at least much of what I have to do is more interesting.