Aren't they something. They're like butterflies, or little pieces of wrapping paper blowing around.

Kaylee ,'Shindig'


Natter 37: Oddly Enough, We've Had This Conversation Before.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


beth b - Jul 20, 2005 6:24:28 am PDT #1458 of 10002
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!

In utterly unrelated news, I've been toying with the idea of going back to school for my MLS. Partially because I like the thought of being a librarian, and partly because I'm thinking it might make me a bit more employable. There's a school in town (NC Central University) where I could get my degree through a mix of evening and online classes. Do any current librarians have an opinion? Am I dreaming about the whole better employability thing (my current degrees are in English, so I'm thinking it's all kinda relative)?

It is a field with a lot of older people in - so there is always some flow in and out. that's the good news. If you are in a place where there is a good school - you maybe oversaturated where you are. When I moved to CA in 98 I could applied for librarian jobs without an MLS and get inteviews. Not now. If the economy is healtthy , it is a good field. When it isn't - well it just depends upon how flexible you are. Bayarea is really ultracompetative right now. However, if people were willing to move to Fresno , it is a completely different story.


beth b - Jul 20, 2005 6:27:05 am PDT #1459 of 10002
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!

Both programs are (IMO) more about jumping through hoops and learning a trade than actual intellectual challenges

the assistant directer of my library claims that an MLS is the most expensive Union Card you'll ever buy.


Calli - Jul 20, 2005 6:27:39 am PDT #1460 of 10002
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

depending on what you make doing what you do, starting librarian salaries might be a pay cut.

At the moment I'm in environmental health publishing, and looking at teaching jobs as a step up, paywise.

I'm just not sure a national reputation is a big deal as long as your degree is from an ALA-accredited school.

Yeah, I'm not sure about this, either. But then, aside from spending a lot of time in libraries and being mistaken for a librarian roughly half the time I'm wandering around in the main Durham branch, my knowledge of the practical aspects of librarian careers is kind of low. Hence my dip into the well of much knowledge that is the Buffista hivemind.

As far as librarianship in general, I am obviously in favor of it. There are a lot of jobs available, is my impression, due to demographic changes and aging of the profession.

Yay--thanks for all the info, flea et al!

an MLS is the most expensive Union Card you'll ever buy.

Heh.


beth b - Jul 20, 2005 6:33:11 am PDT #1461 of 10002
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!

It is a good Idea to go to school if you haven't been in the field. People who haven't been in the field - learn a lot at school. For the those of us that have been in the field the distance between reality and what is taught in school is fustrating


flea - Jul 20, 2005 6:34:51 am PDT #1462 of 10002
information libertarian

At the Looniversity, starting salaries for a 24 year old fresh out of school are around $35K. They do scale up some for job experience. Public libraries pay less; corporate and special libraries pay more.

UNC has an internship program with the EPA that might be a good fit for you if you're interested in that area.

The other thing about librarianship is it's very forgiving of career changers. It's a field in which having had a first career before becoming a librarian is considered an advantage by many, not a liability.


Connie Neil - Jul 20, 2005 6:38:28 am PDT #1463 of 10002
brillig

I so should have stayed in school and got a masters. Hell, I should have stayed with Library Science for my bachelors. I was attending an ALA-accredited school already.


Calli - Jul 20, 2005 6:38:28 am PDT #1464 of 10002
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

The other thing about librarianship is it's very forgiving of career changers.

Mmmm, that would be good.

UNC has an internship program with the EPA that might be a good fit for you if you're interested in that area.

As would this.

I'll have to muse on the MLS thing some more. It's not something that I'm going to jump into this fall, but if the jobs keep not coming this will definitely be on the table.


amych - Jul 20, 2005 6:45:41 am PDT #1465 of 10002
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

UNC has an internship program with the EPA that might be a good fit for you if you're interested in that area.

As would this.

I have a friend who does web work at EPA who has worked with a ton of SILS interns over the years; I'd be glad to milk him for contacts if you have specific questions in that direction. The people he's worked with are all IS and not LS, just so ya know.

(For that matter, given your web experience and your environmental history and interests, you could be working with his group for a bunch more $$$. No idea if they're hiring at all, but hey, since I'm already promising stuff on other people's behalf, why not?)

I'll have to muse on the MLS thing some more. It's not something that I'm going to jump into this fall, but if the jobs keep not coming this will definitely be on the table.

Both schools will let non-degree students register for a limited number of classes (space allowing, of course) and apply them to degree work later.


sarameg - Jul 20, 2005 6:58:27 am PDT #1466 of 10002

I think the layoff slacking has commenced. Either that or several people got lost on their way to work this morning.

Sigh.

Someone not me has a big old mouth because two more people have come to me, stunned, for confirmation. It's really awkward. Don't ask ME. Ask him!


Lyra Jane - Jul 20, 2005 7:01:25 am PDT #1467 of 10002
Up with the sun

I'm surprised by how optimistic I am about the Supreme Court and Roe v. Wade, but what I keep coming back to is: people have *always* been convinced society was teetering on the edge of a precipice, and we never are.

The other thing that comforts me is this: Ten or 15 years ago, legalizing gay marriage would have been a far-left position, if not a joke. 20 years ago, Reagan had just been reelected in a landslide (seriously, look at the 1984 electoral map sometime, and tell me it doesn't make you feel better about 2004). A tad over 30 years ago, abortion wasn't legal. 40 years ago, segregation was common. 50 years ago, there was very limited access to birth control, and many people believed married women shouldn't work except in cases of financial need. 100 years ago, women couldn't vote. 150 years ago, we still believed people could own other people.

And 150 years is an eyeblink, when you look at the massive scale of time on this planet. It's nothing. In 2500, 1855 and 2005 will blur together almost as much as 1400 and 1550 do now.

I'm not saying right now doesn't matter, or Roberts doesn't matter. It does and he does. But progressives have made a tremendous amount of progress even in the last 25 years, and I have faith that, roadbumps aside, that progress will continue. We've come too far to turn around now.

(Thus endeth my dose of optimism for the year.)