Just got myself a fresh batch of
volunteers from the university. Have to keep reminding myself that the library is where people come to learn things, and stuff, and hunt the apparently elusive beast of common sense. I'd still take a handful of middle schoolers who love to read any day of the week over these hipsters though. |
Sometimes I wonder if my chosen profession wasn't just a
by-product of the subliminal advertising that I was exposed to as a child. I mean you all remember that one scene from the "Beauty and the Beast" right? |
Grad School Confession:
"Education VS Employment"
Most people don't know you have to
have a Masters Degree to be a librarian.
Or know that most of your classes
are overpriced busy work. Instead of spending hours reading over-bloated dissertations on the science of librarying, spent my time getting as much work experience as possible before getting my diploma, and spent more time looking for a job then writing research papers. During graduation was still kinda shocked that I was the only one who had a grown-up paying gig lined-up after school. Unless you count that girl who was a volunteer page.
"Education VS Employment"
Most people don't know you have to
have a Masters Degree to be a librarian.
Or know that most of your classes
are overpriced busy work. Instead of spending hours reading over-bloated dissertations on the science of librarying, spent my time getting as much work experience as possible before getting my diploma, and spent more time looking for a job then writing research papers. During graduation was still kinda shocked that I was the only one who had a grown-up paying gig lined-up after school. Unless you count that girl who was a volunteer page.
"Retirement Job" Rant
The field of librarianship has a large percentage of workers that are often referred to as a "graying out of the profession." Though many librarians have forgotten more than I will ever learn, there's still many refusing to retire because this is their "retirement job" (hand to God I've heard this phrase used by them more than once) not allowing more qualified and passionate people to join the field. This discourages the profession as a whole from moving forward and helping to improve the populations we hope to serve. They also refuse to become the librarians people need by learning basic facts like how to turn on a computer. It always made me wish there was some competency exam that librarians had to take in order to keep their jobs. Who's with me?
The field of librarianship has a large percentage of workers that are often referred to as a "graying out of the profession." Though many librarians have forgotten more than I will ever learn, there's still many refusing to retire because this is their "retirement job" (hand to God I've heard this phrase used by them more than once) not allowing more qualified and passionate people to join the field. This discourages the profession as a whole from moving forward and helping to improve the populations we hope to serve. They also refuse to become the librarians people need by learning basic facts like how to turn on a computer. It always made me wish there was some competency exam that librarians had to take in order to keep their jobs. Who's with me?
Yes. It sounds absolutely heartless, but when they finally do retire and need to fill out their social security paperwork online (because you know the government doesn't do actual "paper" work anymore) who do they think they are going to go to to get their basic needs met? That nice librarian who knows how to....oh dear....wait.....where's the information professionals who are seasoned veterans ready to help you find exactly what you need? That's right. They gave up waiting for a job, and found another way to pay their rent.
Webinars: The Professional Development Pack of Lies
If you have time to actually watch a full webinar for your LEU certification you obviously don't have enough to do. I'll log into what half-baked presentation they're offering then go back to work waiting on when they've uploaded the slides for me to glance over and glean the one or two sentences of actual information it provides. Webinars are the sources of professional development learning mainly used by library staff who are far too short-staffed to leave the library for a day, or who work at a library with too little budget to send us to actual professional conferences.
If you have time to actually watch a full webinar for your LEU certification you obviously don't have enough to do. I'll log into what half-baked presentation they're offering then go back to work waiting on when they've uploaded the slides for me to glance over and glean the one or two sentences of actual information it provides. Webinars are the sources of professional development learning mainly used by library staff who are far too short-staffed to leave the library for a day, or who work at a library with too little budget to send us to actual professional conferences.
That look on my face when I go to read the PowerPoint slides only to see that the webinar has ran past its ending time
Taking a day off can be difficult when you're a workaholic. You have to resist the urge to check up on what's going on, and tell yourself that the staff will only lie to you and tell you things are running smoothly without you if you call.
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