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Working Knowledge
A Monthly Column about Life on the Job |
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By Mary Pergander
American Libraries Columnist
Mary Pergander is director of the Deerfield (Ill.) Public Library. Send comments or questions to working@ala.org.
Column for October 2007 |
Leaving Libraries
Why do some librarians switch careers? (part two of two)
This month we continue with stories of successful career transitions (AL, Sept., p. 78). Robb Murray of Chicago spent little time as a librarian, but uses what he learned regularly. “My evolution . . . was made possible by my information services background. From a three-year career as a reference librarian . . . the public service part of my background attracted me to the training side of systems,” said Murray. “I became a writer of users’ manuals . . . [and] I was recruited back into corporate employment as a tech writer.” Eventually, Murray’s background as an improv comic led him to the world of commercial acting. “I don’t know what my next step may end up being, but I do know that my ability to find and use information will always see me through,” he said.
Once a librarian...
Storyteller Beth Horner also used librarianship as a springboard to another career. She was a children’s librarian at the Champaign (Ill.) Public Library until 1983. “For 24 years, I’ve been a self-employed, full-time storyteller. . . . I even taught storytelling to NASA engineers,” said Horner, who is now an adjunct at Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science in River Forest, Illinois. “Once a librarian, always a librarian,” she said.
Holly Williams, circulation librarian at Pittsfield (Maine) Public Library, ventured out of the field—and then back in. “I worked at a university bookstore for over three years . . . I was responsible for reaching out to departments across the university and offering to help them market their own departments in our store,” said Williams. But now she is back in the public library world: “Public libraries have been my true love since I volunteered at one in graduate school.”
Don’t look back
Some librarians—like Carole Sund, web product editor at the National Education Association—leave the profession forever. “I worked in public libraries, got burned out, discovered the world of the information specialist, and never looked back,” she says. “I currently work for a teachers union . . . I have filled in at jobs that use my librarian-type skills, mostly research and writing, but some database work . . . but I do miss messing around with books!”
Last month’s column began with the story of an MLS-degree candidate who had no intention of working as a librarian. What might motivate such a career move? As Elas Kramer of Indianapolis explains, “My original career was and still is in publishing. . . . I chose at midlife to pursue the MLS with no real plans to work in a library,” said Kramer, who uses library skills on the job almost every day. “[The courses] are all useful to me as a researcher, writer, editor, and business owner. Elective courses in philanthropy, grant writing, instructional design, and information access have increased the services I can offer.” As these stories help demonstrate, in the field or out, experience in librarianship provides many options for satisfying work.
WORKING WISDOM
Elas Kramer (see above) shared these final thoughts: “I actively encourage would-be grad students to consider library school as a valuable step along the path to any career that demands top skills in information management. In our electronic world, that could take them almost anywhere.”
(c) Copyright 2007 American Library Association
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