Careers in library and information services April 27, 2009

Curious, organised (but not necessarily tidy), an eye for detail… Does this sound like you? Have you considered a career in librarianship?

In fact you can’t really pin down librarians to such a simple set of characteristics, as information services have changed so much with the explosive growth of the internet. Working in a library is no longer just about cataloguing and issuing books, in fact this is increasingly becoming automated or contracted-out. Information services now require people with more diverse abilities: IT skills are valued, from editing websites to managing databases; project management is key to bringing in these new technologies; information professionals are now frequently asked to deliver training on information literacy and research methods; and many libraries cry out for good marketing to reach their users in an increasingly crowded arena.

It can be argued that librarianship still has some way to go to shed it’s fusty, dull image, but it is narrow-minded to stereotype it this way.  Librarians aren’t just employed in public and academic libraries, they also work in law firms, government departments like DEFRA and DCSF, hospitals and prisons! Your career in information services is really what you make of it.

What is the career path?

You can get a good overview of various career paths and qualifications on the CILIP website in the Careers Gateway section.

For graduates, it is typical to do a one-year graduate traineeship or gather similar work experience and then do an MA. This enables you to move beyond assistant positions. The Masters courses come under a range of titles, including Information Science, Information Management, and Knowledge Management as well as Library Studies. Each has a different emphasis so it is worth checking the details of the curriculum to see how it covers your particular interests, e.g. web development, cataloguing or antiquarian books.

What can I earn?

Have a look at the CILIP salary guides. There can be variation in salary between the sectors. For comparison, if you look at starting salaries for newly-qualified librarians (0-2 years post-qualification), in the public sector you stand to earn £19145 – £23300, but in law libraries it is £21500 – £26650. Particularly if you are aiming at law libraries or corporate information service work, it is a good idea to decide this early on and make sure you do work experience or a course placement in that area, as you will find many jobs in these sectors strongly prefer experienced candidates.

Choosing your sector

What is it like to be a librarian in all these different sectors? Follow these links for some varied profiles showing what people have done and enjoyed:

• CILIP career profiles – five profiles including Academic Services librarian, Clinical librarian and working for the MoD
• Independent on Sunday blog, November 2007. Three young information professionals, early on in their careers.

Looking for work

Sue Hill and Infomatch are the main specialist recruitment agencies in the UK, and you should also browse the essential lisjobnet job listings. Graduate trainee posts are also listed here, on the CILIP website.

…but what’s it really like?

That’s always the hardest one to answer. It’s best to get out there and see if your local library is interested in taking a volunteer. Otherwise, you could try reading a couple of these blogs to get a taste of it. There are many librarians embracing Web 2.0, and pushing to incorporate these features in their Library 2.0, and it is these who are actively blogging and networking online. There is a thriving community of technical-minded librarians on Twitter also, see the librarian Twibe.

As this blog is written by a couple of enthusiastic librarians, please do leave us a comment if you have any questions!

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