The Class of 1988

Fifteen years after library school, what do their careers say about yours?

By Teresa L. Jacobsen -- Library Journal, 7/15/2004

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" Frankly, no one likes the question. For young librarians, especially, the truly scary part is looking way ahead and trying to envision a career that brings growth, challenges, and personal satisfaction. So how do librarians manage their careers and how do their careers progress?

For a closer look at the career paths of librarians, LJ targeted the 1988 graduates of UCLA's Graduate School of Library and Information Science (now known as GSEIS). Using 15 years as a mid-career benchmark, we hoped to learn how the careers of the Class of 1988 had developed and how these graduates viewed their career paths to date, as well as their futures. Sixty-three individuals received their MLS degree from UCLA that year, and 58 were located and contacted for our career survey. A heartening 67 percent responded, offering not only some intriguing statistics but also some excellent anecdotal insight into the job satisfaction of the mid-career librarian.

Most noticeably, the survey reinforced the notion that librarianship is largely a lateral profession. For librarians, the standard, vertical career ladder may not be a relevant model. New librarians, therefore, might think instead about individualized paths that lead to satisfying careers.

Breaking In

From this survey, two equally popular paths emerged. Call them loyalists and changers. Loyalists tended to stay with one library system and grow there. Changers, on the other hand, moved frequently from place to place. From the Class of 1988, we found that those who stayed the first five years in one system remained for the next ten. These loyalists shared a wide array of reasons for staying put: geographic constraints, benefits, personal disposition, and interesting options available within the organization. Loyalists saw a steady climb in those first years—internal promotions, acting positions, and job security through seniority.

Changers also had their reasons: their particular specialization required movement, or they enjoyed new environments. Some grew impatient about an organization's philosophy or benefits. Others had personal reasons for relocation. Hopping around, the changers conceded, made them more vulnerable. But they were also less apt to be pigeonholed. Age was not an overriding factor nor was salary.

For the Class of '88 we also found that the first five years of the librarian's career generally set the stage for the rest of it. It doesn't have to be a perfect five years—in fact, it's usually fairly messy—a temp position here, a sabbatical-replacement there, even a layoff is possible. The early years are when individuals are willing to juggle part-time jobs or work in contract positions. Life, however, eventually intervenes. As more than one respondent noted, "Careers don't happen in a vacuum."

Messy at Five, Solid at Ten

For the Class of '88, whether a loyalist or a changer, those who had at least two job steps within the first five years expressed the most satisfaction with their careers now. In contrast, the subsequent five years usually were a time of steady growth in one position. Within that ten-year framework, active participation in professional associations, mentoring, or publication garnered the librarian a trusted group of colleagues. This camaraderie became critically important for continued professional enthusiasm. For those institutions not able to offer much in terms of upward mobility, other factors emerged to create job satisfaction. Survey respondents particularly appreciated financial support of professional development activities and tuition reimbursement. Creative use of the librarian's talents through new job assignments made a difference, too.

At the ten-year mark, our most satisfied respondents either made a promotional leap or took on a significant leadership role in their respective organizations. A combination of maturity, political savvy, and a willingness to tackle a major challenge frequently kicks in at this point.

"It takes that amount of time to establish yourself as a potential leader, to prove to other people that you know what you're doing, to establish competencies," notes Gregg Silvis, assistant library director for library computing systems, University of Delaware, Newark. In other words, it often takes a decade to cultivate the necessary depth of experience that tempers the young professional's initial idealism.

From our small sample, it's clear that that there is no "right way" or "wrong way" when it comes to a personal career path. Reviewing the flurry of email surveys from the Class of '88, we interviewed six individuals about their careers. Both loyalists and changers, these six represent the younger members of their class. They share insights into their varied career paths and offer some thoughts on what they see ahead for the field. Overall, they show that the profession continues to afford opportunities to make a difference in people's lives. When you think about it, what could be more rewarding?

Staying Put, Bailing Out

The Class of '88 tended to stay in the same type of environment in which they started, whether a public, academic, special, or school library. The type of work individuals are performing at this point is markedly different. John Helmer, executive director of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, Eugene, OR, writes, "I now seem to be completely absorbed by things never explicitly taught in library school yet clearly resting on that foundation." Conventional wisdom says ten percent will leave a field, and we found nine percent of this class had done just that. After six years of temporary positions, one left for a Ph.D. in a subject field while another left school librarianship feeling isolated and discouraged by professional organizations' attitudes toward her specialization.

Salary The survey confirmed that salary patterns for different library specializations hold true as well. The highest salaries are still in private industry. Surprisingly, for a profession as notoriously underpaid as librarianship, not a single respondent mentioned salary as a negative. They did, however, express frustration with the lack of adequate funding for services. Those who commented about salary found compensation to be more than just take-home pay and emphasized the perks of good benefits packages, supplemental stipends for administrative assignments, merit pay for performance, and noncash incentives.

Ranganathan vs. Political Reality 101 When asked about meaningful library school coursework, the Class of '88 said that cataloging was the acknowledged foundation. "Cataloging is the most intellectually pure aspect of librarianship," followed by information-seeking behavior and a good solid handle on the reference interview. Management courses were the big question mark. Some respondents felt they were out of step with what graduates needed, while others lavished praise on their management professors' ability to teach from experience. More than once the topic of "political reality" came up. Ideally, libraries could help their younger librarians by sending them to management training or to courses in public administration.

Caught up in the web The web became a big part of librarianship for the Class of '88. Many loved the new freedom and challenges brought on by the web but found the ensuing bureaucratization stifling. Those seeking "fast and nimble" were repeatedly frustrated by the "let's vote to take a vote" mentality of their organizations. Mid-career librarians who worked primarily with the design side of technology, overall, expressed more satisfaction than those implementing policies and working in the trenches with the public.

How to Stay Energized

Judging by the generally optimistic tone of the surveys we received, librarians feel their career choice has been good—in fact, over 80 percent of the Class of '88 work in library settings. They repeatedly cited as positive the variety of the work itself; the people with whom they work, both colleagues and clients; the opportunity to earn additional degrees; and the pride of creating web pages, publishing articles, and editing journals. Not to be discounted is belonging to a sharing, largely altruistic profession.

Professional associations Overwhelmingly, smaller professional associations were recommended as avenues for meaningful interaction and collegiality, with the Medical Library Association taking the prize for best large organization. Of professional activities, Ruth Wallach, head, Architecture and Fine Arts Library, University of Southern California (USC), summed it up best, saying that they have "helped me mature as a librarian and as a member of the academy."

Mentoring Mentoring doesn't have to be formal, with most respondents speaking warmly of informal ties that developed spontaneously. "Having good mentors has been one of the keys to my success and professional growth," says Tibi McCann. Numerous respondents felt their bosses served as mentors, while others found this type of relationship through professional groups or with library school professors. Most encouraging were the large numbers who say they often mentor students and staff members.

New challenges The experienced librarians of the Class of '88 are poised to take on new professional challenges, aware that the baby boomer retirement wave is imminent. What do they think the young professional should anticipate? More teaching. Digitization, of course, along with its partner "libraries without walls." Our group sees the steady growth of consortia continuing. They expect significant technological shifts, organizational restructuring, and vocabulary changes.

The 15-year mark opens up a second major phase, the mid-career period. With it emerges a level of recognition, a certain marketability, and definite restlessness. Recent literature suggests the mid-career phase is a perfect time for examining one's progress and, perhaps, making major professional changes yet again.

Author Information

Teresa L. (Terry) Jacobsen, Reference Librarian/Fiction Evaluator for Santa Monica Public Library, CA, was the assistant graduate advisor at the UCLA Graduate School of Library and Information Science from 1981 to 1989, with responsibilities in recruitment and placement

Wright Rix

Interim Branch Manager, Santa Monica Public Library, CA

Rix, 41, left the County of Los Angeles Public Library (CoLAPL), a large public library system, for Santa Monica Public Library (SMPL), a medium-sized one, in the midst of economic uncertainty. In 1991, the fledgling Class of 1988 rode through a major recession. Many employed by public institutions found themselves out of work or threatened by layoffs. While eight of his class members stayed with the county system—and became loyalists, by the way—Rix says he liked the idea of change, not minding the risk.

Rix had held two positions at CoLAPL, a telephone-referral reference position and a branch reference librarian position (Librarian I), and took a promotional move, with pay raise, to be a municipal reference librarian at SMPL. Rix says he never had a big plan, but, "in my gut, I felt that library reference work would play to my strengths." Organizational changes sent him to adult reference services in the Main Library, a lateral move. After ten years there, he was promoted to become the reference department's assistant head in 2001.

As second-in-command for a department of ten FTE, Rix has steadily matured on the job. He's also expanded his professional circle with his work on the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System Reference Committee and with the California Library Association. Now, with a salary triple his beginning step, Rix is managing one of SMPL's three branches, again a lateral move. Anticipating a return to reference services in the future, he feels that his branch experience is strengthening his résumé. Is there a future for reference work? Without a doubt, Rix says.

"People crave human interaction. Staying one step ahead of them will be critical for reference staff."

Melinda Chesbro

Information Technology Manager, Ft. Vancouver Regional Library District (FVRLD), Vancouver, WA

Chesbro, 46, possesses an adventurous spirit matched by the variety of positions listed on her résumé. She's held her current one since 2002. Although a lateral move salarywise, the enhanced benefits and cost-of-living factors made it more like a ten percent increase.

Her career path to Ft. Vancouver crisscrossed the West. She spent two years as an automation coordinator for a private school consortium and then took a six-month grant position as a consultant for the Getty Art Center in Los Angeles. Next was a systems librarian position at the University of Colorado, Boulder, for five years, but not getting tenure there forced Chesbro to reevaluate. She moved on to automation member services manager for Marmot Library Network, Inc., in western Colorado, until her current position. Now leading a staff of seven, Chesbro admits she can no longer be the expert on everything and she must delegate. The FVRLD covers three counties, with 13 branches plus three bookmobiles, and about 4200 square miles. "I have to acknowledge that my role has shifted…. I'm a manager. I help other people get things done, but I don't actually do things myself."

Chesbro delights in going to conferences so she can investigate new products in the exhibit hall. She says Library and Information Technology Association Forums are the best continuing education events she's found for "getting up to speed." Her entire career has been about change and that's a distinct part of its continuing allure. "One of the reasons I went into libraries was that no two days are the same," Chesbro concludes. "I like making things work for people and creating something useful for the public."

Tibi (Teresa) McCann

Foster City, CA

In 1988, with her newly minted, joint MLS/MA in Latin American studies, all thought McCann, now age 41, most recently director, quality assurance and product support, Entelos, Inc., Foster City, had a great shot at one of the coveted academic library positions. But this is where geography and personal choice come in.

McCann's first five years read like a true changer's. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where two other library schools had already saturated the limited job market, she cobbled together temporary jobs, literally driving up and down freeways and often working 12-hour days. An internship with Dialog paid less than her graduate student job at UCLA's college library reference desk. Next came a customer services position (part time) at Dialog and a reference librarian position at Burlingame Public Library (part time). Then she took a full-time job as the phone center supervisor for customer services at Dialog, while also being on call for the Redwood City Public Library.

After seven years, all of this hard work garnered a promotion to manager of the Product and Information Services Group at Dialog. But during a 1996 maternity leave, the company's quality assurance department wooed her away from customer service.

McCann was promoted to head of quality assurance within a year and stayed until 1999.

Large, private-sector employers such as Dialog, says McCann, offer elaborate "job families," ranges, and grades, providing considerable financial incentive to stay. An attractive offer from Entelos, a private biomedical research company, lured her to that firm and kept her until this summer.

Not one to rest on her laurels, McCann has left private industry for now and is planning to pursue a master's in education/teaching. Not sure what age level she hopes to serve, McCann knows her information literacy background is key. As she points out, "I think librarian and information management skills are a good fit for lots of careers…. Thinking critically about information is…even more germane today because there's too much information, too much data."

John Helmer

Executive Director, Orbis Cascade Alliance, Eugene, OR

Helmer, 46, never saw a reason to leave the University of Oregon campus where he began as a cataloger in 1988. Within two years, he had been promoted to head of copy cataloging and then head of processing. A brief stop as head of the authorities section, and there he was in 1992: in charge of systems and automation. Helmer laughs and says he's "not a particularly techie guy"—what matters most to him is the collaborative nature of librarianship.

Currently administering an academic library consortium that supports a union catalog for 30 members in Oregon and Washington, Helmer finds that "there's virtually no pattern" to his days. Headquartered in a suite of offices tucked into the University of Oregon's Knight Library, Helmer could just as easily be on the road, meeting with state library groups or conferring with library directors in Portland. The consortium also serves more than 200 libraries through its electronic resources and courier service programs. Generally self-effacing, he tends to credit his institution for continuing to throw new challenges at him.

Helmer says he approaches each step of his career in the here and now. Impatient with librarian "soul-searching," Helmer carefully states that while it is important to "understand the implications of technology, it's critical that we not lose sight of the bigger question of what we're trying to accomplish."

Who does a director of a consortium hang out with? With other consortia folks—the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) is the professional organization most relevant to his career at this stage. Helmer's not averse to leadership institutes but hasn't really seen one that grabbed him. Law school or an executive MBA program might be interesting, he muses, but when would he have time? He has been recruiting close to home, for his wife, Normandy, is currently pursuing her MLS part time at the University of Syracuse, NY.

Ruth Wallach

Head, Architecture and Fine Arts Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

She has spent her first 15 years in one place, but that doesn't mean Wallach, 40, doesn't know change. While she now runs her own library, it didn't come quickly or easily. Wallach spent the first two years as a circulation/ reference librarian for a large branch specializing in international relations and public affairs. In 1990, she began a decade-long affiliation at undergraduate-focused Doheny Reference Center with reference, collection development, and instructional responsibilities. What is noteworthy, in terms of a developing career path, was her temporary/acting head position at the Architecture Library in 1995 and a subsequent acting head position at Doheny until 1999.

Graduating young, Wallach was startled by librarianship's managerial tasks. For Wallach, however, faculty status has made the university administration's machinations tolerable because of the other rewards she can reap there. One example: a sabbatical gave her time to pursue her research interest in public art in Los Angeles. Her list of published articles and scholarly presentations at conferences ranging from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and ARLIS/NA to the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies is truly dazzling. For the pleasure of professional contact, Wallach enjoys periodically putting out a call to her campus colleagues for a Chautauqua-like gathering.

The best thing today's university library administration can do? "Recognize when people are good and let them do what they do best. It's important to build trust," says Wallach.

Gregg Silvis

Assistant Library Director, University of Delaware, Newark

Silvis, 47, has found outside professional activities vital to his growth and happiness. He felt that a couple of moves early on were mandatory for his professional development. A GSLIS internship at USC led into Silvis's first position as user services librarian, a two-year stint. He then spent three years as computer services systems librarian for USC's Law Library. At that five-year mark, he made a dramatic leap professionally—and geographically—taking his young family cross-country to his current position. Today, Silvis leads a staff of 8.5 FTE, where there used to be four.

The ten years he's spent in Delaware have been witness to startling changes in how library work is done. To illustrate, he points out that as a librarian, he's never worked in a library with a card catalog, and younger new professionals have never worked in a nonweb library. "The widespread adoption of technology has transformed the library workplace," says Silvis.

A classically trained musician, he says his symphony background helped prepare him for the political realities of library work. While the orchestra's shared goal would be the music, Silvis muses, "In terms of the library organization, the shared goal, the acknowledged goal of all members, is good service to your patrons. Academe in general, he acknowledges, requires an enormous level of professional activity outside the library. Silvis has met that challenge, developing his leadership and communication skills through his participation in PALINET (he's president of the Board of Trustees) and the OCLC Members Council. For mentoring, he turns to his 1999 Class of UCLA Senior Fellows, a cohesive group that really helps "in terms of mutual support."