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/lit/ - Literature

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3516955 No.3516955 [Reply] [Original]

I want to be a librarian. What is the best way to go about this?

Current plan:

>get a bachelors in english
>get into a MLS degree program
>volunteer at libraries n shit
>????
>shooshing people in libraries

is this a good plan?

>> No.3516956

btw I'm a grill

>> No.3516960

>>3516956
no I'm not, stop pretending to be me ylilauta

>> No.3516963

My mother is a librarian. Get the MLS degree and you'll be able to find a paying job pretty quick. Starting salaries are low, but you'd be surprised how high the salaries are for library managers. There are a lot of library boards and librarian networking services, definitely get involved with them. Try as hard as you can to get managerial experience, because that's the difference between making $40k and making $140k.

>> No.3516974

>>3516963
I don't even give a shit, I'd be perfectly find with just 40k, I just want to be a librarian

how did your mom do it? I mean what was her path in college?

besides the path straight to my dick

forgive me

>> No.3516982

Marcel Proust worked in a library, was fired after two years. He only worked a few days 'cause it was too dusty and he couldn't be bothered turning up. Not sure why they didn't fire him sooner.

>> No.3516985
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3516985

>>3516955
WHY DO YOU CHILDREN THINK YOU NEED A DEGREE TO STACK BOOKS?

But really, just start really low at the Library and work your way up.

>> No.3516995

>>3516985
nigga do you even read?

you have to have a degree to be a librarian in most states

actual librarians are professional researchers, they do tons of other shit besides stacking books all day

>> No.3516998

That's pretty much the plan I had as well, OP. You'll do fine and you don't even really need to volunteer at libraries after getting your degree.

>> No.3517000

>>3516995
What the fuck, you just give books to pplz.

>> No.3517002

>>3516998
are you a librarian/wizard?

post librarian stories

>> No.3517005

>>3517000
nope

reference librarians (like at public libraries) research information for customers, help people learn how to computer, and spend a lot of time cataloging for collections

>> No.3517007

>>3517002

Whoops, sorry. I realize now that that was misleading. I only spoke to librarians and library science professors as part of my plan to become a librarian myself.

>> No.3517011

>>3516985
>>3517000
Yep, there are people this stupid.
Probably Amerigun.

>> No.3517014

>>3517007
are you still trying to do it?

>> No.3517015

>>3517002
>guy comes in looking for a book
>asks me if we have the book
>go on computer behind desk
>pretend to type some shit
>open up paint
>drawn a little stick figure and 'fag' with an arrow pointing to him
>'no sir sorry we don't have it at this time'

>> No.3517060

I'm actually really interested in this as well
I'm getting my teaching certificate, but already seeing how this is going to be hell and I already want out (and I'm not even in yet)

There has to be someone here who's a librarian, come on

>> No.3517064

Don't get your undergrad in English. Plenty of MLS students come from liberal arts and humanities and unless you want to become a reference librarian for a specific subject at a university they don't give a shit how many books you read or what you know about literature. However, if you know how to monkey around in a database or do some accounting you'll be vastly more valuable and this is coming from a current MLS student with a BA in English. Major in Business Administration or Computer Science with a minor in whatever subject you like. There's no limitation on who can get a MLS and you'd be surprised at how many people in libraries don't come from liberal arts (or even library science in some cases).

Also only in extremely rare circumstances can you work your way up past an assistant director/library associate position without a MLS. Some small libraries that can't afford to pay wages for MLS candidates will take non MLS workers especially if they, you guessed, have some experience in accounting or administration.

Unless you're a children's librarian or a reference librarian (those are dying out btw, the quickest dwindling job in the field now) your work will cover a large base. Our director, for example, handles collection development, library marketing and fundraising, and also works with accounting to handle budget and payroll.

tl;dr major in Accounting or Business, get MLS, drink tears of humanities undergrads like me

>> No.3517070

>>3517064
Also make sure your grad school is certified. There's a list on the ALA website.

Also avoid getting your bachelors in library science. A BA in Library Science, as I've heard, is pretty much worthless.

>> No.3517072

>>3516955
I'm a librarian at a university, collections manager or subject librarian. It goes by various titles at different places. I got an MA in Classics before going to the MLS and worked through that program in various capacities at university library (some cataloging, some in special collections/archives, some in electronic serials and digital books). Money is decent, job is generally relaxed minus some budget wrangling with different groups in and outside the library.

>>3516982
He got a leave of absence almost the day he took the job and kept dodging ever going in after it was up. He claimed illness so he was only half slacking.

>> No.3517074

the things I fap to, guys

the things i fap to

>> No.3517087

>>3517064
why are reference librarians dying out? are libraries really just becoming a place for kids to place runescape on the computers?

>> No.3517094

Advocate the abolition of most state power, and figure out where you stand on the left/right continuum. There are many types!

>> No.3517147

>>3517087
Because when's the last time you needed a reference librarian? University libraries are hit the hardest because so much of their material is online now. When I was in college I went to the library maybe twice a semester to actually check something out and even then I'd already found what I was looking for through online catalogs or databases. I wrote all my research papers without ever speaking to our English literature librarian once (don't even know if we had one).

In public libraries the job of reference librarian is being absorbed into who ever can do it. Anyone who has ever worked at a public library, any public library, will tell you that anyone who works there is a reference librarian.

If people need questions answered that's what google and wikipedia are for. If people are looking for information (and there is a difference as you'll find out in LIS 601) that's what a librarian is for.

>> No.3517491

>>3516985
At my local library, I swear one guy has been shelving books there for a decade. Never seen him do anything else but shelve books.

>> No.3517532

>getting a Bachelor's degree to be a librarian.

Seriously, would be a waste of a BA. There are specific librarian diplomas that take like a year or two, as opposed to a 3 or 4 year degree which isn't tailored to being a librarian.

As for shoosing people, some of the libraries I've been to have gaming areas, movie areas and general talking areas. They've changed man.

>> No.3517539
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3517539

The library for me is my everyday chill space. I can't imagine killing it by working there. I've been to libraries all over the country where I've lived where the librarians literally get angry at me just for going there so often and not engaging in small talk or caring about them. But fuck them, my life is sweet, there's is stress.

>> No.3517546

>>3516974

She didn't know what she wanted to be, and had just taken a variety of liberal arts courses. Eventually, she majored in Psychology. Then she got her MLS while interning at the Chicago Public Library.

>> No.3517567

>>3517491
He's probably just a volunteer in that case.

>> No.3517667

>>3517532
except all the MLS degrees are graduate programs

>> No.3517683

Do you think libraries will extinct at some point? You know with all the ebook hype, and even experts stating that physical books will be replaced (of course not 100%) by ebooks in the long term.

>> No.3517686

>>3517683
not in the next 100-200 years so I don't think we have to worry about it

>> No.3518028

>>3516955
By your breast i can assume that you are female?