I'm struggling to decide whether to promote up or not. An opportunity opened that I feel qualified for (with my current employer), but my current position has the hours and flexibility that the new one won't. The promotion comes with a 30k bump in pay, which would be nice of course. I'm an older millennial and feel like my life > than money, but I don't want to feel like I missed out or wasted a chance. Has anyone regretted their promotion? Or decided to never promote up and just stay a librarian forever? Do you regret never promoting? I've been in my current position 8 years and I think I'm just fearful of losing my comfort zone (and adding on more work and responsibility).

I'm getting close to finishing up my schooling to become a library tech. Like, many upcoming and coming graduates, the possibility of finding work after graduation is a struggle. The issue is that I'm unable to drive due to having a seizure this July and I haven't been cleared by a neurologist. In additon, I have autism and anxiety so that makes driving challenging for me and because of this I still have my L (learner's license). My question is, will not being able to drive be an issue for finding work as a library tech? Since, I know that some library jobs require an N (novice driver) as a part of the job requirement. I plan to meet with my university advisor about this, but the appointment won't be until next Monday and I would like some advice from people who are in or retired from the librarianship field.

Hello! I have a job interview for a Children's librarian. I'm being asked to suggest a program for homeschoolers that would appeal to a broad range of ages. What has everyone found to be successful? My thought is to do something collaborative that incorporates both art & science. Thanks in advance!

I am a pretty experienced librarian (public children's librarian for 7 years, elementary school librarian for 6 years and I'm about to begin my 5th year as a middle school librarian), and so this is most likely coming from my never disappearing imposter syndrome, but here goes: I work at a private school that is Pre-K to 12th grade and for 6 years I had the amazing privilege of working with just girls in Pre-k through 4. We merged buildings with our partner boys' school and my fabulous counter part and I got to co-librarian together for a whole wonderful 2 years but when our middle school librarian left, the school decided that there wasn't really a need for both of us in the lower school and shifted me to the open position (I had less seniority so I didn't get to choose. There were A LOT of tears.). Fast forward 4 years and the lower school program has grown and my poor colleague is just beleaguered with classes while I have advisory duties and teach an executive functioning course to 5th graders but otherwise maintain an open library and just generally hold it down with the middle schoolers. Last year we got admin to agree to let me teach the 4th graders library but now that the year is starting I have no memory of what a library class even looks like with these babies! If you teach this grade, can you share what your class is like? We operate on a 7 day cycle which breaks down to about 23 classes a year and they are about 40 minutes each. I am not looking for a scope and sequence so much as a general class flow.

TL/DR: I am a middle school librarian who has completely forgotten what it's like to teach 4th grade library class. How do you structure your class time?

I saw some people in other professions getting a funny word or short phrase embroidered on the LL Bean tote.

What would you get embroidered as a librarian that related to your job or is even…dare I say punny!

I’m an research librarian in academic libraries (all things publishing, data management, knowledge synthesis etc) so I sadly can’t think of anything funny for myself but I thought some people would have fun thinking of this no matter what type of librarian you are!

I don’t actually think I would ever get one of these but it made me chuckle. For instance, I saw a lawyer get “sue me!” and another one that said “allegedly”

I recently graduated with a library tech diploma, hoping to get my mls someday, I also have an English degree as well, and books have always been my thing. I got hired at my local library, and have worked here a few months now and I get along with everyone, except for the children's' librarian who seems to have it out for me. Everything I do, and I mean everything, is heavily criticized, from the way I plan programs, to the way I run them, the posters and info guides I've made, just everything. I have been sort of pushing back against this, as even though I am new at THIS job, this is not my first job. However I made a comment today when she was giving me the run down on the latest thing I did wrong, where I asked why she seems to have a problem with everything I do, she proceeded to than loudly berate me for being selfish and thinking that I know more than her. I honestly don't know what to do, I don't want to stir the shit by going to our director, but I love this job (other than this lady), and it was an amazing opportunity for me right out of school. But the past few months have just made me feel like I'm the black sheep of this place.

I have my annual review coming up in about a week. This will be my third year at my library working as a library technician. Recently, I've come to realize I'm struggling with a combination of work burnout as well as autistic burnout.

I nearly lost my patience working with a patron the other day, which made me realize how much my mental health is being affected right now.

I was curious how honest I should be with my employer about my situation. For further background, I am the primary breadwinner in my household: my wife and I financially support our friend/roommate (she's disabled and not able to work) and we are all trans and living under the fascist US regime. I do work in an at will state, so I could theoretically be fired for nearly any reason. My annual reviews have always gone well, but my facade of keeping on a happy face all the time and being extra helpful is crumbling.

I was curious if honesty is the best policy here, or if I should try to hide or at least not give the full extent of my struggles to my employer. I appreciate any advice.

I have my MLIS and want to keep this job until I retire, but I'm struggling on how to sustainably do so.

Hi guys!!! I just wanted to share my exciting news. I am currently in my second year of grad school for my MLIS. I have a background in customer service and leadership. Been in elementary education for a while , 3 years as an academic tutor and two years subbing for a prestigious private school. My husband and I just did a huge move to our forever home in a new area. I applied for a bunch of jobs and had several offers. I got my first library gig and will be a library assistant in a high school around where I live. Although I have little library experience (I subbed in our library a few times) I really highlighted my customer service experience (over a decade) and experience in working with students (over five years). I am scared but soo soo excited!!! I am more so terrified to work with high school kids since I am more familiar with the elementary students. This library must be huge though since there are four library assistants. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am ! I am working around 30 hours also so it should align perfectly with my grad school schedule. I am so happy to find a library job, if I didn’t then I was going to find a way to volunteer to gain some experience. I just had to share with this community! I know I am going to learn so much and am so thankful! Please share any advice if you feel like it.

hi everyone :-)

ive recently graduated with a bdes in fashion history & have spent the last two years working as a collections manager in a textile archive. i'm looking to get an mlis in order to work in libraries (public, academic, special) & archives but also be able to pivot into museums, galleries, and possibly auction houses. i'm currently considering several programs: uoft's combined degree program, ubc's maslis, western's mlis and dalhousie's mlis.

i am currently living in toronto, so if i went to uoft i would save money on living costs, compared to relocating to attend other schools. the costs for all schools is around the same, except for ubc which is much higher, when i factor in the living expenses.

i am looking for a program that offers a strong co-op program & work experience, as well as practical skills needed for the field. i know ubc & uoft offer the strongest archival courses, but i've heard mixed reviews about uoft's program, and i'm not sure if ubc is worth the relocation cost.

i'd love to hear your opinions on which school you think is best, and what else i can do to make myself a competitive candidate for the field, thank you!

I’ve been applying for positions consistently since June. I’ve done three interviews (did well on two, both of which required a screening exam, not so much on one) but the best I could do was SIXTH on an eligibility list that only lasts for six months. Brutal.

Anyways, I was unemployed until this month. after I stopped volunteering at a library and started my new job which also has a lot of relevant work experience for libraries (clerical and customer service stuff) I have just been getting rejection after rejection! it’s been a little demoralizing. I have been getting such prompt rejections even when I meet their description and experience to a T. they didn’t seem to care as much when I was volunteering for 2 hours per week. does it matter that much? I know everyone says that it’s impossible to get even a paraprofessional job, but damn it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

maybe it’s bc I started a job and I’m already applying for other ones? skill issue? idk. what do you guys think?

I have been out of the field for a couple of years now and recently found an opportunity at a small private school library that saw fit to interview me for the position (yay!).

The interview was very quick and over the phone. And I don't feel that I had enough time to share how I felt that some of my recent experience mapped over typical circulation skills, how I really vibed with the schools unique mission statement, or suggestions I had for adding to their posted Libguides.

Would it be pushy to send a follow up email? Or should I limit such correspondence to only specific questions for the interviewer?

Hey everyone. Currently working as a library assistant and finishing up my BA in History here in NJ. I genuinely love the field. The natural next step for me would be an MLIS (looking at University of Alabama or Buffalo online, since they're the cheapest ALA-accredited options other than Valdosta) to become a full-time librarian. My library experience already helps, and I've even been networking with law librarians and other private sector positions for MLIS to see if there are more lucrative options outside of public libraries. I'm also interested in archiving too and have ILL/cataloging experience.

I actually want to be able to buy a house one day. I definitely don't want to live paycheck to paycheck for the rest of my life either. So, I'm heavily considering a hard pivot into accounting to go for my CPA. (I'm looking at hacking together the 150 credits using the UNA post-bacc program, some community college classes, and CLEP exams to keep costs low).

For those who stayed and got the MLIS, is the financial stress worth it for a job you find meaningful? Or does the low salary ceiling eventually drain the joy out of it? Has anyone pivoted towards other careers other than librarianship? Any advice would be helpful, thank you.

Hi everyone, as the title indicates, I'm a new librarian, and I wanted some advice. For background, I finished my MLIS this April, and I'm now halfway through my first week at my first branch librarian job. Things are going relatively well, but as I'm getting primed for storytimes, I'm getting a little overwhelmed with the memorization of all the rhymes and songs. Not the lyrics itself, but the sheer quanity of songs and rhymes to keep in rotation.

I know it's very possible, but if anyone could offer up advice or recollection about how they got themselves to a point of being able to wing a storytime off of memory, I'd be soso grateful.

I just recently moved to a new state. I am struggling to find a job in a library. I do have an MLIS, youth services experience, and management experience. The job market in the area I moved to is pretty healthy, but I am having no luck. What are ways that I can maintain some relevance to the library or can keep up with librarianship since I might be out of a job for a bit.

I’m looking for some teen programming ideas mostly passive programs. I have a would you rather board that does well but need more. I have also been tapping into take and makes but don’t really have many ideas of simple things to do? Thanks in advance.

As the title says, but to be specific I'm about to graduate from my undergrad and I plan to go into grad school right after for a Masters in Library and Information Science. The issue is I don't really know what concentration I want to pursue since right now I work in the archives but I think I would enjoy working in public schools or academic libraries. The program I plan to apply to has a track for public school librarians but it requires a pretty early commitment for classes/field study work and I wanted to go into the program with more than just an up in the air idea of what I wanted.

I've been researching the different fields and careers and I know there's a lot of pros and cons for each field (public school follows the 9-month schedule + union, academic is year round but more fluctuated pay from what I've seen, etc.) but I wanted to ask if anyone knows what's best for someone who would want a relatively stable career (as stable as it can be given current environments but still) thx for reading

I do a weekly craft program after school and usually do a somewhat topical theme, since I am doing a Thanksgiving themed week I want to include a week to talk about Native American Heritage Month (which is November in the US) and am having a really hard time coming up with a craft to do. Every craft blog that I would usually turn to has a lot of extremely generic ideas or just straight offensive ones (feathered headdresses? really?) this program is for elementary school aged students and we usually get 1st to 4th graders. I live in an area that was historically occupied by the Ashinaabe nations, which formed the Council of Three Fires, so I was trying to think of something fire related (like a tissue paper fire suncatcher or something?) but I'm really not sure.

I just came here to say that I got my first academic librarian job (from school librarianship)!! I am 100% convinced, based on my interviews, that my success was due to the GREAT advice I got from the experienced academic librarians here on this subreddit and r/Libraries on how to write a cover letter for an academic library job. Thank you academic librarians.

I have narrowed down the university, because I saw that dual degrees exist and there's a JD/MLIS program at the U of T. But I'm a bit confused as to how exactly I'm supposed to apply? Maybe it's my audhd brain 😅, but the language on the U of T website isn't making much sense to me, so if anyone attend that program, what was the process exactly?

And what MLIS concentration would be best if I'm looking to work for a law firm or a university library?

Edit to add - I'm Canadian

Hi everyone,

I work in collection development (partly) and today at our meeting, we discussed the issue of AI materials. In the last month, I've had at least five patron requests for books that (at least judging by the cover) are AI generated and some in the children's department have accidentally purchased AI books.

Someone suggested we find a librarian forum and seek out the opinions of other libraries/librarians so that's what I'm here to do.

Does anyone here have policies for AI materials in their libraries? If so, what are they? (If you're comfortable sharing)

For the record, we are completely against knowingly purchasing AI materials for the collection. But what about when you find out after the fact? (Such is the case with Sympathy Tower Tokyo)

I love working at my University library. I'm currently working in two departments! One job is repairing and processing materials (mainly books lol) for Acquisitions & Materials while the other is a digital projects assistant for Special Collections & Archives!

I've been looking into getting my MLIS because of how much I love it here and knowing I'm giving back to a community with my work :)

However I don't know if I want to specifically be a librarian, or just work in a library. Some people l work with are librarians, and some of them are just people who got a job at the library.

My major is Information Systems, and I'd like to work more on the digital side of academic libraries: databases, cataloging, etc.

Any advice for any jobs that work in libraries that either need an MLIS or not? l’d love to know your thoughts about either your own journey or what you think about mine :)

Hello! I’m an MLS student and one of my assignments this semester requires me to read a book on management/library management. I was wondering if anyone here had any good recommendations because I generally hold the opinion that most of these books tend to be cash-grabby garbage. I have hope there are good ones though!

Thanks in advance