Excellent story and I truly sympathize with the new librarians who are struggling to get established in this awful economy. However, some of of this is not new. Back in 1980 when I received my M.L.S. we had a poor economy (anyone remember "stagflation"?) andd an oversupply of M.L.S. graduates. In addition, virtually all the job listings asked for "3-5 years" of professional experience. Here I was with my M.L.S. plus only one year of experience at the library assistant level! Fortunately, I eventually landed a professional position but it was thanks to whom I knew; I got to fill in as a substitute while another librarian was taking a full year off after having given birth to a child. That one year plus 4 months' worth of professional experience is what truly launched my career. Take heart, new librarians! At some point, we baby boomers really will start to retire (or die) and at some point the economy has to get better. Things really looked grim to me back in 1980 and I briefly did consider leaving the library field. Glad I rode out this early period of difficulty and have, so far, enjoyed a 30-year career.

Posted by Tim Ddoge on October 19, 2010 04:41:52PM