Staci, <br> <br> Although months ago I expressed my opinion that you should have taken the public library job, I doubt that you weren't hired at these other jobs due to anything that you did wrong at the interview. I've never heard, however, of anyone being told whether they came in second when they become one of the finalists. Hiring committees don't usually give that type of information. If you didn't get the job it is generally because there was someone who was a better fit and/or had more direct experience. Further, when it comes to getting a job in the academic world, having an MLS and maybe an internship or two won't get you very far. Generally knowing another language, or having specialized skills and/or unusual proof of scholarship, along with working in an academic library, are also what is looked for. I wish the schools would come clean and tell students the reality of what it takes to get that first job before students committed to the degree. If that were to happen, however, there would be far fewer people going into the field. Nope, most schools won't do that. <br> <br>

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with students, and for your striving to produce the best that you could for this journal.

While I agree with much of this post, I do have to say you might have made the right decision to not accept a low-paying first job. When I graduated with my MLS back in '91, I jumped at my first jobs which paid VERY low, because I thought that the experiecne would be worth it. Fast forward to all these years later. I'm in a very well paying library job, but most of my expenses go back to paying off the debt accrued from my many years as a very low paid public librarian in NYC.

You may be struggling now, but don;t let a job experience make you fall deeper into debt. Take a non-MLS job and volunteer or intern for the library experience.

It would be almost impossible to survive in NYC without a good salary. I doubt that things are the same as when you graduated, but I can't say that for certain because I only graduated a few years ago. The jobs didn't pay well at the time I finished, but the salaries had certainly gone up from what they had been a few years earlier. My beginning salary, not good by national standards but not at all bad for the low cost area where I live, has risen dramatically since then. Staci's stated concern at the time was that she didn't want to get into a career track as a public librarian when her goal was to become an academic librarian. But with the difficulty I was seeing in 2006 through the present time with so many new graduates not finding jobs and leaving the field, I felt that she had been offered a good opportunity and that she could continue to work toward her dream of working in an academic library while working as a public librarian. Staci had been told by her mentors that graduates should choose and should stay on a career track. I didn't agree with that idea since I've known too many people in the field who have done quite well switching from one type of library and job to another. In the future I think that flexibility will be increasingly common. Right now anyone who has a job is lucky to have one so I'd agree with Staci's conclusion that if a new graduate is offered a job in a library that looks like it would be a good place to work with excellent growth potential, take it and see if there is a way to work out the money issues.

". I wish the schools would come clean and tell students the reality of what it takes to get that first job before students committed to the degree. If that were to happen, however, there would be far fewer people going into the field. Nope, most schools won't do that." There were about 1/3rd more accredited programs more when I graduated than today. The business about a "Librarian Shortage" has been bandied about for around 30 years, and continues. I made sacrifices to get experience in my first job, and looking back on it I wondered if I'd do it again. Excuse me if I seem biased, but I became very disillusioned by what I saw and experienced over the years. My guess is there was something about the job and/or interview that caused you to decline the offer. I had a gut feeling that I brushed off before on my first job that I brushed aside, only to find I was right in the first place. I took a job in an out of the way rural library, seeking experience so I could get to where I wanted to go. It's a long story that I'll spare you. I found that I was pretty much typecast in the same sort of job, and never really felt that I was able to "blossom" and show my real potential in the field. I had to show what I was capable of after I left it.
In some cities the YWCA, and perhaps other groups, hold workshops for people considering career alternatives. I attended one in the area where I grew up, and where I attended library school. Said L.S. program apparently had so many people turning up in the YWCA workshop that the woman who headed it called the head of the program to see what was going on. It eventually folded, probably due to grads having trouble finding entry level work and complaints of same.
You mention Texas having a large number of entry level jobs. In a period where the market is tight overall, that may not be a good sign. Sometimes it's a sign of a revolving door or a bad internal situation. Some states, also tend towards applicants from the main state school, but you won't find that out until you get there, after paying your own way to interview, with the library pleading poverty. Library hiring practices was another thing that caused me to leave. It's not cheap to go for long-distance interviews, and if people are not serious you get to the point where you feel used, if not robbed. I went to enough "interviews" that were little better than perfunctory library tours. Take a look at the Annoyed Librarian blog here on LJ. I think there are some links to some of the earlier threads on jobs and job hunting from folks who have been there. Above all don't let yourself be a victim of somebody's lack of professionalism and/or honesty. A good friend of mine worked in reference for 23 years in a major West Coast academic library. He landed what he thought was going to be his dream job back east in a special collection in the hometown library. The personnel people largely left his immediate supervisor out of the loop during the hiring process, and it was browbeat city from day one on the job, to his termination for petty reasons at the end of the six month trial period. He'd moved about 2,000 miles at his own expense. It pretty much wrecked his finances and career. He went into early semi-retirement. A few weeks ago I got an email from his wife where he'd died of a massive stroke at age 61. He was one of the 47 million without health insurance as the result of things. Librarianship, sad to say, is in need of MAJOR reform. I'm not sure I could say that ALA is presently up to the task. At any rate, I voted with my feet some time ago. Sorry to sound so downbeat. Some people luck into things, so don't totally give up, but don't put your eggs in one basket, and by all means watch your back, at least in the public library sector.

P.S. Excuse typos in the above comment. I get a bit steamed at times thinking about this.

I too have been told that I came in second or third behind the winning candidate. Here's the code: "It came down to you and one other person...", "You were in the top three...", etc. I think they're trying to be nice, but it just makes it suck more.

I guess if you look at the bigger picture: how many people applied? From a paraprofessional library casting call of over four hundred applicants, my final scores put me in the top three. A county interview, three different city library interviews, and I thought I was a shoe-in. There were four open positions and I was #3, right? Needless to say, I cried a lot when I got that final call at the end of that four months. Should I have felt better about being three libraries' number 2 out of 400+? I sure didn't.

Lulu, I know what you mean having gone through the same thing. It hurt to be told when turned down for a job, "Hey, you should feel good. There were over 200 applicants and You were one of the Chosen to be interviewed." And then be told that I came in second or third. That was a few years ago when the economy was wonderful compared to now. <br>

Currently, I have a great mid career job at an early stage of my career, but I had to move far away from my family and roots to get it. Almost everyone I went to school with and worked with in paraprofessional and semi professional library jobs, found jobs within a few months of graduation because they were flexible regarding job type, and were able to move. Interestingly, we also were lucky enough to find jobs in our fields of concentration. That was lucky. It wasn't that there were no jobs, but that the jobs were mostly in places where people either unable to or didn't want to go. <br>
I hope everything works out for the graduates who have been posting here for the last few years. I hope that things worked out in the long run for you, too.

"I wish the schools would come clean and tell students the reality of what it takes to get that first job before students committed to the degree. If that were to happen, however, there would be far fewer people going into the field. Nope, most schools won't do that."

oh! how true! how true! we all got the same sales pitch about the dearth of librarians and the death of librarianship, worked our assess off and paid a lot of $ in graduate school only to discover after graduation that being accepted into the librarian "club" was like trying to get into Harvard.

i don't see a lot of librarians or libraries expending any energy to bring "new" librarians into the fold. If you want to be a librarian, I suggest you work in one, as a volunteer, intern or paid paraprofessional before you consider going for your MLIS. Otherwise, an MLIS gets you nowhere in the information science/library field. That should be the disclaimer given loudly to anyone before they can even apply to library school.

I'm still grieving at the loss of the library career to which I aspired. I entered library school with a host of other like-minded people who were optimistic and altruistic. now, we're all scratching our heads and taking whatever job pays the bills (including our student loans!).

I do hope ALA or other library-esque entity will come to realize all of the bright, wonderful people that are being turned away in droves from the profession and do something about it.

I'm grieving, but I'll get over it.

What bothers me, post-librarian, is that one of my friends and I who both made it into this "club" discourage potential newcomers. The reason is not because we don't think it's a great job (it is very rewarding), but that we want to let people know what they are up against before they they decide to take on those student loans. We don't think most of the schools are doing that. Why should they since it would so adversely effect their bottom line? It's not that there are no jobs, but how many people would consider going into librarianship if they knew they would need to work in a library learning everything they could while there and obtain specialized skills before graduation, and then work themselves into the ground as if they were trying to get into Harvard to get that first job, and then move to a rural area while paying their own expenses to do so with a starting salary of $35,000 - 42,000? <br> <br>

Still, there are new librarians who have had an easier time. There are people, often because of their location and pre graduation experience, who do fine and who find their first job easily. Having a good professional network helps too.

I am a recent graduate...August 2005. I got my first professional position in January 2006 as a Branch Manager, it was a small branch, but it was good experience. I thought I had landed my perfect position in a library system with plenty of upward movement...well, little did I know my husband would get his dream job in the Inland NW and I would move from Ohio to Washington. The first thing I did when I arrived was send out resumes and letters to all of the library systems in the area. I applied for a professional Librarian substitute and I checked the classifieds for librarian positions...I moved to WA in April and in May I started a position as a librarian working for a small medical trade school, building a library from scratch...Incredible experience and something to keep me busy...in the meantime I had been in communication with a library director who was looking for a part time young adult librarian...I ended up taking that job about 6 months later. I missed working with the public! I know not everyone can have my experience...and maybe not everyone has the freedom of having a second income and being able to move...I have met several out of work librarians since I have lived here and they seem amazed at my luck, is it luck? I am not sure. I admit, I have worked in libraries for about 8 years before getting my MLIS, I have management experience that I got before I even considered college...I would also say take a lower paying job...I was taught that once you are in the system it is easier to move up and if they see the kind of worker you are...you are more likely to succeed. But...just my two cents. Best of luck to everyone.

Thanks for this good advice and input from the new academic librarian, and from library girl. What I've found is that those of us who successfully find a job, often forget about those who are struggling, or who are considering whether or not to enter this profession. As new professionals, we need to not forget how hard it can be to get that first job, nor should we in the future (when we are the ones hiring) turn down people merely because they don't have years of experience. We all need to start somewhere. I also believe that whwn we are in the position to hire some years down the road, we need to look at many factors, not only experience. It looks like the profession has lost Staci, whom I believe would make a remarkable librarian.

staci, i am just finishing a Ph.D program and looking for teaching jobs. There aren't any. There are faculty hiring moratoriums from Harvard on down. I had a job offer from a school where I adjunct an online course, just before the economic downturn. I didn't take it, because it would have required me to move to a small town, or drive (through snow or whatever) three hours to get to campus, and probably to have an apartment in both places. I didn't know there wouldn't be better job offers down the road. I, too, have kicked myself more than once about not taking "the wrong job," as it turns out to have been the only job. And, contrary to one of your commentors, I've had two interviews, and was told BOTH TIMES that I came in second. I, too, thought that was rather unprofessional, but I also thought it was said to make me feel better - like I am desirable and would surely be hired soon. Ha! Anyway, I just applied for a non-teaching job and made the 2nd round of interviews. There were interviewees before and after me. Today I got an email saying that the committee can't make up its mind, and plans to stew on it for another couple of weeks. Hmmm. What will change in two weeks? I don't know. I am finishing all the food in my pantry, using up all my toiletries, and learning to be more frugal. I am procrastinating my graduation so that I can keep my school health insurance. And I adjunct a couple of classes (at $3K a semester, it's not a living, but it's cash), and am learning to find my fun where it's free. But I am not telling you this to complain. This is the state of our current economy, and many excellent people are caught without jobs. I am commenting in solidarity. I feel you, girl. Take heart from this, at least. You are not alone.