Working Knowledge A Monthly Column about Life on the Job

By Elisa F. Topper American Libraries Columnist Elisa F. Topper is director of the Dundee Township (Ill.) Public Library District and a career consultant. Contact her at working@ala.org. Column for May 2005

Fine-Tuning Your Field of Focus

I am a corporate refugee who left the business world in 2002 as a result of downsizing, and I was fortunate to have met a librarian who convinced me to obtain my MLS. Six months ago, I was hired as an entry-level librarian in my local public library system, but now I'm starting to think that public librarianship is not for me. Is it too late to switch my focus toward academic librarianship, where I can concentrate on history, my first love?

Still Searching

Congratulations on realizing the need to sharpen your job focus early, before you become entrenched in a public-library career you might regret.
From what you describe of your experience, it sounds as if you possess many of the qualities that the Association of College and Research Libraries' College Libraries Section has identified as personality traits employers seek in academic librarians: flexibility, intellectual curiosity, innovativeness, assertiveness, and proactiveness. Further, your experience in the corporate world will have taught you many of the key competencies CLS also names: risk-taking, multitasking, the ability to see the broad picture, and analytical and problem-solving skills.
The largest division of the American Library Association, ACRL represents more than 10,000 academic librarians. As a former ACRL staff member, I can attest to the fact that joining and finding guidance through this group is a great way to enter the field of academic librarianship. You can find your specific niche within one of the organization's sections (see www.ala.org/sections.htm).
Can a librarian with public library experience and a history background easily move into an academic environment? “Yes,” says Glenn Ferdman, library director at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. “In fact, depending on the position, any library experience is a good thing.”

Making the move
One route into the field of academic librarianship is through paid residency programs. Check with your local library school or see the Association of Research Libraries' listing of residency and internship programs at this website.
Working part-time in an academic library is another way to gain more experience to help make the transition, suggests Ellen Keith, reference service coordinator at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and an active ACRL member and academic librarian for 11 years. “Another key fact is to really tailor your résumé to the academic position highlighting the comparable experience,” she adds.
Ferdman advises that anyone considering a move to academic librarianship should also “consider a second master's degree, as many of the positions are tenure-track, and talk to academic librarians in all types of positions.”
In hiring for academic librarian positions, Elmhurst (Ill.) College Library Director Susan Swords Steffan explains that she “looks for people who are motivated to work in an academic setting and show me some evidence that they will be happy here....Like all librarians, they need to have facility with technology and the ability to learn new technologies quickly.
“I also look for people who are interested in an active professional/scholarly life in addition to their job responsibilities in order to be successful as a faculty member. In an academic library like ours where librarians have full faculty status, these are requirements, not options,” Steffan concludes.

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Resources

• ACRL offers a number of resources that can help you on your career path. See this website.
  
• ARL Career Resources, see this website.
  
• "Careers in Academic Libraries" by Gwendolyn Bradley, Chronicle Careers, April 20, 2001, website.
  
• "Turning Ph.D.s into Librarians" by Mary Dillon Johnson, Chronicle Careers, October 16, 2003, website.
  
  

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