How do I get a job at a library?

currently im majoring in physics
after i finish my physics degree how long would it take to get an mls?

2 years, for most programs

It's the same as any graduate program, so 2 years. Honestly though, you'd probably make more with a physics degree and would not need to go any further.

However, a huge perk of being a librarian is that it's comfy as fuck and you can work until you're on your deathbed if you want. Stress levels are incredibly low unless you want to move up to director, or assistant director. Basically you lose out on some salary for a lot of peace of mind. It's worth it in my opinion if you don't only care about money.

How saturated is the market though?

It depends where you live. If you live near any major city with a lot of schools, universities, and public libraries you're pretty much guaranteed a job within the first year. If you live in Bumfuck, Kentucky you'll probably be out of luck unless you move.

i would imagine pretty saturated but in this case urban sprawl is on our side
i dont care about money but i do wonder if you would make enough to support yourself in a modern city like say portland

You're such a self entitled little child

Enjoy being """mature""" and bitter for the rest of your life.

any chances for guy without degree? jack in the box just wont cut it for me.

You'd probably start at $70k a year or so. Probably kind of low for having a graduate degree. But like I said, you're lengthening your lifespan by becoming a librarian by having less stress. It's a pretty dank career choice. Once you do get hired it's pretty hard to get fired unless you're a complete fuck up.

sweet jesus its the god career

Be Armenian and grow a beard.

Yeah, just hardly anyone is redpilled on it except for actual librarians and library techs.

There's a guy who's literally autistic that works down at my local library. I wonder how he got in. Probably got put in by the government.

I used to work at a library tech when I was in the first year of my undergrad (STEMfag reporting). I was a library page, so I mostly organized books, re-shelved, and helped people find things. Question is, though, why were my bosses, the actual librarians, doing all day?

I have a useless Humanities degree and I work in a library as a teen service librarian.

Have more luck than an unlucky man but not enough luck as to be successful and have a fulfilling life.

I also live in Bumfuck, Kentucky and there aren't many people who have been to college or who apply to jobs like this.

>I guess I have to become an SJW and shit out """"diverse"""" literature to make a living.

Even very successful writers have day jobs. There are maybe twelve people on the planet who earn a living shitting out diverse literature. You won't be one of them.

Libraries are a declining industry. Career paths are available, but it's not going to be a comfy, stress free, no risk ride.

There are easier ways to make a living.

Young people, talk to actual people in the career you are thinking about. Veeky Forums is just a gaggle of mediocre white dudes with little or no world experience.

Most white collar jobs take very little effort. I work from home two days a week. Never work more than 40 hours. Plenty of time for reading, writing, shit posting.

When people talk about stupid Americans, this man is one of those people.

I suggest you read this empirical report instead.

pewinternet.org/2015/09/15/who-uses-libraries-and-what-they-do-at-their-libraries/

>I guess I have to become an SJW and shit out """"diverse"""" literature to make a living

Most people at my library in positions requiring a degree have english or creative writing degrees. Me and another guy have history degrees. To be an actual "librarian" you need the MLS but they will usually be the person in charge of the building.

Hello friend, adult programming specialist here.

Is it worth applying to a children's librarian position that specifically calls for a MLIS when I only have a MA in English? I'd think the children's librarian position requires less on the technical side of what an MLIS teaches. From the job posting it looks like they mostly want someone who can be entertaining and is good with children, while also an expert on children's lit.

Where I live children's librarians usually also need to have teaching credentials.

>white dudes
Get out of here, tumblr.

Only a mediocre white dude would get offended by that statement. And Veeky Forums is predominantly white, too.

My state allows you to teach at a public school level with a Masters, so I technically have them. I've only taught at college level though.

what the fuck is that thing

>literally insulted because its his life's story or is just repeating what his parents told him

You are transperent.

>white dudes

You use those words as if they're some sort of criticism. I'd love to know what superior ethnic group you come from.

afaik, you don't need a degree in library science to work at a library but you'll never be a head librarian without it.

Probably a chicken fetus or something like that.

>Libraries are a declining industry
>Librarians make on average 50,000 USD Yearly
>Librarians typically require a masters degree or equivalent
>Libraries are a declining industry
There are people making 50 grand a year on average organizing books in expansive libraries across the country. That isn't declining.

Literally major in anything you want and then do a diploma in library work and start applying, it's super easy.

Although I warn you, it sucks. Any love for books and literature that draws you there will shrivel up when you see what people actually read.

>Any love for books and literature that draws you there will shrivel up when you see what people actually read.
It's interesting, because the librarians in my town, it seems to me, are exactly like most people in what they read.

woohoo!

i'm a 21 y/o library aide, and i got the job by putting on my best face, being confident, and using proper manners (sir/ma'am).

turns out, my two bosses are autistic and the 'real' librarians are kooky cat ladies of three varieties: the warm, nice ladies; the senile people who can't really help you; and the bitter, aging obese women who ran out their biological clock. i'm not sure, but i think these are the archetypes of any librarian, in any library.

i love my job since there is no pressure other than that which i place on myself. i discover books that i wouldn't ordinarily come across; i get paid to do squats. sometimes, people ask me for book recommendations and i have always known what to get them. it's a unique feeling of joy and satisfaction to hand someone a book they like.

if you were to become a career librarian, be prepared for a lifetime of mediocrity. as others have said, the pay is less, but the stress is less too. i imagine it would be ideal if you plan to write fiction or research non-fiction, but if you just want to work at a library, signs point to your life being deeply unfulfilling and lonely (if you have no gf).

if i move, i would absolutely seek out another library gig while i continue my education; compared to being a baker, a barista, and a fast-food slave, working at a library is ideal. just remember, opie: we only have one life with which to live, so make sure you live it well!

Be a 50yo woman and act like a total bitch to everyone.

>library "science" is an actual a real life degree
>you can even get your masters in it

what the fuck? you put books on fucking shelves what the FUCK

>everything so clean.

went to the library recently because i'm poor and need to stop buying books. i must have searched for like 30 books and none of them were available outside of the central library, which is like 45 minutes away.

so i decided to browse the aisles and 99% of the books were complete trash. there's even a section where the people who work at the library can put their favorites and it was all like ya and other shit.

I'm a university librarian. I have an MLS and an MA in another field related to my specialty as a librarian, which is collection development (fancy term for making sure my different supervised fields are up to standard for university level research) and research instruction.

Positions at libraries - at least university ones, I can't speak for public - are variable in degrees required (or needed to be competitive, even if not technically required). Out of about 90 people at my mid-sized private university only 15 of the positions require the MLS, another ~15 people got a bump in applicant rating from having one (but not too grand a bump), and the rest either don't have the degree or are in school for it. A lot of people in the non-supervisory positions are actually students hired out of school, though this number has gone down over the years and has rarely happened since I've been there (5 years).

Most of the jobs boil down to boring and repetitive clerical work - billing and account management, ensuring accuracy of item records for each book, etc. - and supervising the students who do almost all the real grunt work that keeps the place going on a day to day basis. There are also customer relations with patrons and, for me, different professors wanting various things for research. The rest is absorbed in endless meetings about territorial pissing from the different people in charge of different departments. In this it is no different than any other job.

Student workers are the only ones doing that.

I'll answer questions if I can.

It's really not a bad work environment overall. The pay is mediocre but my benefits are nice (if you're an actual librarian instead of one of the lower tier positions you get a paid sabbatical every few years since you're technically faculty) and no matter what the position there's little pressure, less oversight, and - despite all the efforts to introduce stricter data metrics - absolutely no way to tell how good a job anyone is doing beyond day to day activities. Because of this most places have implicit job security with the only threat being positions not getting filled again if someone leaves. Most people seem to work 3-4 hours of the 7 they're present.

As a librarian at a university are you required to engage in any research or such things like a professor would be? I have an MLS but that's one thing keeping me away from looking at college jobs.

It's loosely required - more in your early days than once you're firmly entrenched. This may be different at different places obviously.

But do you remember all that retarded shit you had to read in library school that said nothing but buzzwords and went nowhere? That can be you now. Almost nothing gets rejected from library journals in my experience with my own work and that of colleagues and the real draw to doing any research is to get university travel funding to go present at a conference somewhere. I do two conferences a year with variants on the same bullshit paper co-authored with a colleague on structuring research instruction to account for differences in information literacy in foreign graduate students.

Research in library science is mostly a joke and even the more serious data-based stuff - which I did more of when starting - usually amounts to no more than local case studies with broad common sense conclusions. The rest is fluffy inclusivity concerns.