Small College Librarian
Career review from a person working in the job
How I Got The Job
My Education: BA, English, Westfield State College (Westfield, MA) MSLIS, Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science
My Prior Experience: I worked for 14 years in a subscription agency doing research before taking my present job as an academic librarian.
My Job Profile
My Company: Work at a college library in Massachusetts.
Job/Career Overview: I work as an academic librarian at a small college in Massachusetts where I have several duties, as I am by myself in the library for most of the day. I catalog books, do circulation work at the desk, checking books in and out. I also manage the magazine collection and do reference work. When the director gives me a book to add to our library network, I have to look in several book sources, then find a call number, enter it into our network and then process it. At night, I must keep the library floor reasonably quiet so that students can do their work. I also monitor athletic study halls. On a typical day, I process serials, help students find books and materials,
find a book for a faculty member, keep track of an athlete's time in the library and
make copies. I also do classes for faculty members where I teach the students how to find materials in the library.
Love It? Hate It?
I rate this career 2 out of 10.
What I Love or Hate
The best part of the job is helping students with papers or other assignments and having them do well and tell me about it. Getting to know students is fun. Working at a college is great; you meet lots of friendly people who become almost as close as family.
The worst part of the job is having to do someone else's work with no appreciation. Having a boss who makes himself look good at your expense and doesn't support you makes a job very hard, wherever you work. Having your experience and expertise matter less than someone's who's been there under a month is also not helpful to job satisfaction
My Career Tips
Don't work in a college where there are sports teams or work at a women's college. Male football players are the worst!
Learn a language other than English. It will be helpful, especially in a college or university library.
Choose another career. Library science pays poorly and you will not be valued.
Go to an accredited graduate school or you won't get in anywhere.
