Seeking the advice of Librarians and Information Professionals (again!)

[WannabeLibrarian]

I have twice solicited your advice so I hope you don't mind me asking one more time.

Background info:

I am studying for my MSc/PGDip in Information and Library Studies - via distance learning. I will complete this early next year. I was accepted onto the course on the back of Information work and I have never worked in a library.

I would like to work in a library. Until my youngest starts school in 3 years time, I am happy to work as a Library Assistant and then try and move into a f/t Librarian post at that time if all is going well. I am struggling to get my foot in any door however. I have had 3 job interviews but still have no job. The two at my nearest Universities resulted in me being the second choice candidate and I lost out to candidates with previous experience.

I'm keen to do some voluntary work - perhaps about 8 hours per week, to fill in the lack of experience gap on my CV and application forms. My long term goals are that I would like to work in an academic library - a University library perhaps moving into a decent school or 6th form library in the future.

I don't know whether to write to the Universities or to some schools to request doing work experience (or maybe somewhere else?) I worry that a University library is so big I'll be unnoticed and be palmed off to do book re-shelving and nothing else.

The appeal of volunteering at a school is that the school library may just have one or two members of staff and I might get to do more varied tasks.

The appeal of doing work experience at the library is that I will be well-placed if another job comes up.

What would you advise?

Very many thanks

That should say - The appeal of doing work experience at the University library

Bump

Wannabe - I would go ahead and contact universities and schools and see if you can get work experience. There are often some project type work that could do with some help. Often it isn't very interesting, but you could negotiate to do that work (for free) on the basis that you would also be given an introduction to the work of other departments. A word of warning, though, it isn't that easy to get a permanent job in the higher education sector as there always seem to be plenty of candidates for even the most lowly paid positions (and library assistants in many university libraries often have library qualifications and subject qualifications to a postgraduate level) - the best way in is often to go for temporary/maternity leave appointments.

Thanks for replying to my post.

What sort of specific experience should I be looking to gain to make myself more attractive to employers?

Do you think it is as difficult to get a job as a librarian in other sectors? I know that public libraries don't employ so many librarians and use unqualified assistants. What does that leave? Specialist libraries - for which I have no specialism. School libraries which again, mostly employ unqualified staff.

I'm beginning to think i have wasted the past few years studying for this qualification. What else could I do with it if I don't work as a Librarian?

researcher for local tv station/ or newspaper?

Bookshop management (and it is confusing that you never see the books again once sold!)

Don't knock the reshelving... when I worked in libraries I once managed to wow a student at the issue desk when they asked about a particular book and I could say "Go up to the first floor, turn left, straight ahead. It's on the third block on your left, third shelf down, about four or five books in from the end, in a red cover." I didn't mention that that happened to be the block where I did my reshelving every morning, and that I had reshelved that particular book about an hour previously, just left the impression that I could be that precise about every book in the collection...

Seriously, though, reshelving is better than nothing. Do voluntary reshelving in your local university library, get to know the library and how it works, get your face seen, and next time there's a vacancy it'll be between "Wannabe, who has been helping out here for months and seems to fit in really well" and someone else who hasn't.

What was your first degree in? That can sometimes be enough to conjure up a specialism, if you are starting at a sufficiently junior level.

Agree with Lemonaid that you shouldn't knock shelving - it is a necessary part of running a library. Much of library work is repetitive routine tasks. You have to start small and work your way up.

Working in a specialist library doesn't have to mean that you come from a specialist background - a lot of library skills are transferable. Eg, I worked in a law library with no previous experience of law whatsoever. But - I was prepared to start at the very bottom, doing shelving, journals circulation, etc, and I gradually built up knowledge and experience.

If you show yourself to be a reliable hard worker doing the routine stuff, then you should find that you are given more opportunities to do more interesting work. And if not, you will have built up enough library experience to apply for a better, more interesting job.

Good luck!

Also forgot to say - definitely apply for any work experience you can get. Contact local schools and universities and see if they have anything to offer.

Don't start feeling despondent when you haven't even started yet! Three interviews is not many really, especially when you don't have any previous experience of library work! Most people who do the Masters/PG Diploma will already have library experience, so you are just doing it the other way round. Get some work experience under your belt first, and take it from there.

HTH

Thanks everyone.

I'm sorry if I sounded snooty about the shelving. It's not that routine tasks bother me in the slightest and I'd be quite happy shelving. It's just I would like to get my face known and have the opportunity to observe other people at work and getting lost amongst the shelves of books for ALL the time that I am volunteering might not enable that so much.

Should I just be very honest in my letter and say 'here's my dilemma, I'm lacking experience, can you make use of me for 8 hours per week?'

Should I write to more than one place at a time or should I send off one letter at a time?

try a follow-up phone call, you might find that the head librarian is 'too busy', but others would be happy for you to come in!

i'd like to be a librarian, in an artschool!

only just come back to this - don't worry you didn't sound snooty, I understand that you didn't do a postgraduate degree to spend your time shelving! but it is a good way to get to know a collection, and you will still be able to observe other people at work as you move around the library, and you will get people asking you questions - even if you can't answer most of the time, you can refer to someone else, and listen in while they deal with the query! it is all good experience.

It will be obvious from your CV that have no prior experience, so yes be honest in your letter. Explain how keen you are to gain experience, and happy to do whatever work is available. If I were you I would send out a few letters at a time and see what response you get.

Have you asked CILIP for some advice Wannabe? Are you currently a Student Member, it's very cheap and gives you access to quite a few jobseeking and career tools (which doesn't quite compensate for their supine ineptitude over HERA and pay and conditions in general alas )
They may keep a register of volunteering opportunities
The other thing would be to post on Lis-Link...CAT me if you don't have access to it and want to follow this up
Agree with everyone who says that good information skills are transferable. Mine have taken me from academic to charity to public and back to academic, and in two cases I had NO background of note in the core business of the new employer.
Best of luck. I hate shelving too but you do get to know your collections really well