There definitely are a lot of problems in librarianship - job availability really is one of them. I of course encourage the field as it grows and changes, but there really is a reason I didn't go the public or academic route LOL. But of course I just graduated into one of the worst job markets ever - it may change a few years from now.
Reading all the stuff about HS teachers is really sad since several of my friends are in that boat right now. They're substitutes or teacher's aides - they've never run a classroom on their own yet because they're all humanities or music.
Yeah. I know that essentially I'm taking a long shot with applying for library school right now, but? What's the difference between not having a job now and not having jobs two+ years? The answer is two+ years. I'd rather be doing something, even if it racks up more debt D: in that intervening time. And I think once I am enrolled in a program I will at least be able to get a (possibly shitty) part-time library job, and at the end of the day I'll be certified in something besides writing papers and reading dead languages.
The thing is, most of the country is in the same boat right now, except for a couple of lucky people who are in demand in their professions. There's not much to be done anyway.
My mom suggests you get experience with PastPerfect & Razor's Edge software to supplement your resume skills to appeal to museums for work but other than that, yeah, 'tis bleak.
I'm looking at over a year now that I've been unemployed since graduating with an humanities MA and only one other person I know from my department has a job (and only jut recently). It SUCKS. And I've looked down just about every avenue there is for me at this point.
I am actually getting a bit of practice with PastPerfect right now in my volunteer job, though it is only the library database portion of it, not the part museums ordinarily use. I've seen several jobs that require Razor's Edge as well over the last year. I should look into tutorials I could take or something along those lines.
It does suck. :( I've been looking for a job and off for a year too. Haven't even scored an interview.
Aw, try not to be discouraged, I didn't mean to bum you out :( There ARE people who do get jobs anyway. I'd just take every opportunity I could to learn how to make myself marketable and to build up skills in software programs and such that I could. :/
I am almost finished with an MA in Medieval Studies, and I've been on a leave of absence this last year trying to find a job. Absolutely nothing. It's really awkward to explain my damn degree and its status in my cover letters, so I've just started not explaining it at all. I like to think that once my MA is finally done, thing's will be a little easier, but I don't know.
Meanwhile, look at this kitty ftw302 made for me the other day. Swish swish! Look at his little eyes! http://twitpic.com/2dh9rq
It's interesting looking back at a young person's life from a middle-aged person's perspective. I'm not trying to sound holier than thou, or really cool and smart, or any of that jazz. But I have been through this to some degree, so what I can contribute to this conversation, from my experience is? Stop looking outside yourself, at the world, at what everyone else is doing, at where the money supposedly is or is not. If I could do it all over again, I would have majored in exactly the things I should have, and knew I should have, without second-guessing what sort of job I could get with those majors. If you love some particular subject, you will find a way to continue loving it your whole life without starving to death.
My life is filled with coulda, shoulda, woulda right now. Don't make the mistakes I did. Go with your heart.
Well ... that's why I've decided to go ahead and apply to library school anyway. I think one of the problems with ordinary humanities grad programs is that a good percentage of the people going into it -- people who think they want to get a PhD and be a professor -- don't realize what kind of situation they are getting themselves into. They think, "I love literature/history/sociology/whatever, this is what I want to do with my life." They don't realize what the profession is really about -- finding niche research interests! Networking! Promoting yourself at conferences! Making yourself as marketable as possible to try to snag those few tenure jobs! And unfortunately, the established professors who are selling grad school dreams to them do not honestly portray what it's like, either. Grad school is, unfortunately, a business, one that's become severely crippled in the last twenty years or so by programs taking on way too many students, more than academia can support and more than they expect to even finish their degrees (usually for
( ... )
Follow your dreams!voodoohedghogAugust 12 2010, 19:08:55 UTC
Well good on you then! Apply to library school! Getting your MLS eh? Make sure you're well-versed in library technology and software, and I think you'll be fine.
"I'd love to go and study manuscripts and book conservation in the UK or Europe" - I can't tell you to go do this right now, but I can say that everything is easier to do BEFORE you're married and have kids. Really. It is. After that, you're pretty much waiting to do this kind of stuff until the kids are in college. And since the world is ending in 2012 anyway .....
And here I am, 50 years old and taking on-line courses toward a degree in quilt history. I have a definite plan in mind and need these courses, but if the economy doesn't improve by 2012, there's a better than even chance I'm going to chuck the whole thing before I have to move to Lincoln for a residence semester. It would really suck, quitting like that, but by then I'll be 52, my chances of getting another position would be much less because of my age, and seriously, I need to think of how I'm going to finance my retirement, which is only 15 years away.
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Reading all the stuff about HS teachers is really sad since several of my friends are in that boat right now. They're substitutes or teacher's aides - they've never run a classroom on their own yet because they're all humanities or music.
Reply
The thing is, most of the country is in the same boat right now, except for a couple of lucky people who are in demand in their professions. There's not much to be done anyway.
Reply
I'm looking at over a year now that I've been unemployed since graduating with an humanities MA and only one other person I know from my department has a job (and only jut recently). It SUCKS. And I've looked down just about every avenue there is for me at this point.
Reply
It does suck. :( I've been looking for a job and off for a year too. Haven't even scored an interview.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
I am almost finished with an MA in Medieval Studies, and I've been on a leave of absence this last year trying to find a job. Absolutely nothing. It's really awkward to explain my damn degree and its status in my cover letters, so I've just started not explaining it at all. I like to think that once my MA is finally done, thing's will be a little easier, but I don't know.
Meanwhile, look at this kitty ftw302 made for me the other day. Swish swish! Look at his little eyes! http://twitpic.com/2dh9rq
Reply
My life is filled with coulda, shoulda, woulda right now. Don't make the mistakes I did. Go with your heart.
Reply
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Make sure you're well-versed in library technology and software, and I think you'll be fine.
"I'd love to go and study manuscripts and book conservation in the UK or Europe" - I can't tell you to go do this right now, but I can say that everything is easier to do BEFORE you're married and have kids. Really. It is. After that, you're pretty much waiting to do this kind of stuff until the kids are in college. And since the world is ending in 2012 anyway .....
Reply
And here I am, 50 years old and taking on-line courses toward a degree in quilt history. I have a definite plan in mind and need these courses, but if the economy doesn't improve by 2012, there's a better than even chance I'm going to chuck the whole thing before I have to move to Lincoln for a residence semester. It would really suck, quitting like that, but by then I'll be 52, my chances of getting another position would be much less because of my age, and seriously, I need to think of how I'm going to finance my retirement, which is only 15 years away.
It's pretty horrible.
Reply
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