On the academic level: instruction, reference, and collection development are the places I’m aiming. Sometimes a position will be jazzed up with a title like “E-learning librarian” and will have maybe an additional duty or two, but this is what I’m experienced in and know I like.
On the public level: reference… aaand that’s pretty much it.
Then there are my “hard limits,” jobs I will never apply for. These are: archivist, children’s librarian, and cataloging.
Why I want the stuff I want: as I said above, I’m experienced in instruction and know I like it. Same with reference and collection development. I don’t have anything against something like acquisitions, nor do I think it would be very difficult to pick up, but my overall lack of experience really precludes me from being able to apply. When I was doing fieldwork 6 years ago I dabbled a bit in it, but I couldn’t even tell you the name of the system I was using at this point. The most I’d be able to say to an employer is “I dabbled in it many years ago and I’m sure I can do it, but I don’t have any recent proof of that.” So, that’s out. Instruction is really the only place I can boast a lot of experience.
I fell into instruction partly by chance and partly by choice. When I was in library school my plan was actually to become a reference librarian in a public library. Finding answers to random questions and dealing with weirdos all while being paid, what more could I ask? Then came time for me to do fieldwork, and I went immediately to the nearby public library and told them I’m available for free labor. Their answer: “no thanks.” Yep, I even failed to GIVE AWAY my free labor on the first try. They told me they were too busy to deal with me and I’d have to try someplace else. I didn’t have a car yet at this point, so my options were fairly limited. There was only one other library I wouldn’t need to bus to, and in fact it was much closer; just a quick walk up a short hill, maybe 5 minutes walking. The only problem was this was an academic library, which wasn’t where I had hoped my career would take me. However, I figured the reference experience I’d get there could translate to working in a public library, so I went ahead and asked. As luck would have it, they were only too happy to help! I enjoyed my time there and am still in contact with several of them today, and all of them are happy to be strong references for me. So, you could say that worked out. What also “worked out” is that I had an opportunity to get a taste of instruction there, and it immediately become my thing. Perhaps (if I haven’t already—I don’t even remember) I’ll follow up with a post on why instruction turned out to be the path for me. We’ll leave it here for now and move on.
I consider myself to have lucked out there, not only in discovering the niche I was best suited to, but also because instruction affords me MUCH more opportunity than public reference does. Part of the problem with many librarian positions is, since our field is now F’d in the B, so many positions have been combined and blended together. This often means the blending of something I can demonstrate an aptitude in (reference) with something I have no experience or even knowledge of my own aptitude in (cataloging, adult services, youth services, take your pick). In all of my searching in the last year, I think I may have seen one posting for a public reference position that was full time and was actually just reference. To just teal deer that for you, so many positions have been merged together that I (and I’m sure countless new librarians) are having a harder time finding a position, not just because there are less jobs, but also because things they had experience in are being merged with things they don’t.
As another example, I think I’d make a good teen librarian. I love graphic novels, video games, and John Green. That’s what you could call a good start. That and I’m familiar with YALSA, of course. But more and more I’m seeing teen librarians and children’s librarians merged together into “youth services librarians” who do both jobs. I think I relate to teens more than someone my age probably should, but children are another story. For one, I hate them. Even putting that aside, I can’t be relatable to them. I can’t talk to them on their level, with coos and squeaky voices and feigned enthusiasm. I just can’t, it's not something I have in me. It is in the best interest of everybody involved if I am kept as far away from children as humanly possible. But of course, this means I can kiss goodbye a lot of opportunities to be a teen librarian, which is actually something I could do and enjoy.
This post began as an explanation of what opportunities I’m going after and not going after, and this is a rare time it evolved into a little more as I began to type (I usually have a destination in plan when I begin, but this time I didn’t). It also began to explain why merging positions creates reduced opportunity beyond the obvious fact that there’s less positions. I’m not sure yet if it’s been taken into account that we’re not only losing numbers, but many positions have also been combined in such a way that more experience is needed (or at least preferred), creating a double whammy effect for anyone still trying to get solid footing.
This is why sometimes it’s better not to think. The result is often depressing.
