Is anyone a libarian/information officer or similar?

[Aranea]

I have been at home with the children for some years now and would like to retrain for a new career. I was wondering about a qualification in library and information studies, but really I have only the sketchiest idea of what it is all about.

Can anyone give me an idea of what their day-to-day work is like? I am imagining that it would be quite a flexible qualification to have, with which one could perhaps work term-time in a school or university while the children are small, and then perhaps go into the commercial sector or something? Is that wildly optimistic?

Also I see that you need a year's experience before beginning the course. My ideal plan was to study part-time while dd2 is at nursery and then work term-time once she has started school. But the graduate traineeships appear to be full-time positions, which would be difficult and sort of spoil the idea of doing part-time study while DC are small. Is it possible to gain the necessary experience part-time?

Sorry, lots of questions... is there anyone out there who knows?

That should say librarian, obviously...

I'm a librarian and did a postgrad LIS qualification part time once I had a job. I worked (until having dd) full time in a uni, now do 2 days a week as a job share. My skills are transferable, in that once you've learned cataloguing, classification, colleciton management etc you can do that in any IS environment. What I did notice though from the people in my year was that there is a divide between people who want to be school/public librarians, and people who want to be academic librarians. The working environments can be quite different - and of course then there are special libraries in medicine, prisons, law, business libraries etc.

As far as getting a postgrad qualification goes, there are some that you can do by distane learning (eg Aberystwyth, Robert Gordon unis) and some where it's possible to do part time (eg UCL where I trained). The experience is generally gained in a full time year long post but it may be different for the distance learning courses. I know people who worked as volunteers at their local library to get an idea of what the work was like, then applied for the course part time. Which courses have you looked at so far?

I'd definitely recommend offering to help out at your local library if you can, just to see how things work and if it's really what you'd like to do. It's not all sitting around reading books all day unfortunately!

I keep thinking of this for when the kids are bigger. I worked for two years as a library assistant and loved it immensely. Got to get my arse in gear and get a degree first though...

I did my postgrad qualification part time (once a week) while working 4 days a week. There were mums on the course (who I admired greatly as was living at home and had a very easy life at the time!). You don't have to do a graduate traineeship - any LIS work would count.

I am a SAHM at the mo, but spent 10 years in a College library, which definitely WASN'T quiet and peaceful as people often assume!

The professional organisation is CILIP who will have loads of advice on pursuing an LIS career.

All the best. I love libraries and am looking forward getting back into them at some point when children are older!

Thanks jumpjockey and weasel, that's v helpful. How tough is it to find work? Especially part-time or term-time only? And how much difference does it make if you have a qualification from, say, UCL over another institution? (I have only just started investigating this, and was looking at UCL by coincindence, JumpJockey!)

I have a Classics degree and am harbouring a fantasy of working in a university Classics library at the moment... I wonder whether university librarians are able to work part-time or term-time.

How stimulating is the job? Does it become repetitive, or does it keep you interested?

I will definitely offer some help to my local library, thanks for the suggestion.

Aranea - my uni doesn't offer term-time only, and I suspect many of them wouldn't because you always have postgrads and reserachers needing to use the library. Schools might be better able to offer that, and might also have just school working hours rather than a standard 9-5. Saying that most libraries are open into the evenings (public and uni) so you would probably be rota's to do some evening sessions, I did until 7.15 once a week and then Saturdays every other month - now that I'm part time that's no longer the case.

It's always competitive, because the work/life balance is pretty good (can't really take your work home!). It doesn't matter where you get your degree, though if you're interested in particular areas that might influence your own choice - eg I wanted to do book history and they had that as an option at UCL but not at others.

bedtime calls, if you've got any more questions I'll be back later!

I'm finding it tough to find work at the moment, TBH - I can't quite figure out how to make it all work with two small children. I don't think that's particular to librarianship tho. As JumpJockey says, there are a lot of libraries that require people to cover different hours than your usual 9-5, so I think there's quite a lot of scope for PT jobs.

Also, when I was working in an FE college some of my colleagues were term-time only as we would be much quieter during the holidays. The library closed during Christmas and summer holidays. Again, lots of scope for different working patterns.

As for how stimulating, well I ALWAYS found there was something new happening - lots of developments with internet-based resources and new ways of accessing information, so never dull! It depends on the post of course, but a lot of library work is quite varied - enquiry work, stock selection, policy making, promotions. It's definitely not dull!

Hope that helps.

Thank you both so much, this is really interesting.

weasel - when you say it's tough to find work that will work with two small children, do you think it would be easier with school-age children? Or is it just that there aren't many jobs out there?

Having been at home with the children ever since 5yo dd1 was born, I would like to find a way of working once they are at school, but without sending them to endless after-school clubs etc which I think is a bit tough on reception age children and would be a complete shock I think after having had me around full time.

Another librarian here - have worked in the academic sector but currently work in the commercial sector - but have virtually always had jobs that related to the subject of my first degree (also have PG library qualification and CILIP membership). I currently work pretty much in line with term times only but only managed to get this job when my eldest was in the 6th form!

For many years I worked 3 days a week and had a very helpful DH who picked up children from after school club.

Theoretically there should be more jobs coming on stream as a large proportion of the profession is nearing retirement. On the other hand, it has never been easy to get part time work, with the possible exception of weekend work in academic libraries.

Don't forget that the pay is generally low and that in most libraries (apart from the commercial sector) you would normally be expected to work rotas which could include evenings and weekends. When my younger child was under school age and the elder was at school it was not economically viable for me to work - even though I had jobs offered.

Oh, that's a bit discouraging. Hmm. What about school library work? Is that a realistic thought, do you think? I'm not planning to work until both children are at school.

The problem with school library work is that most sch librarians are only employed in secondary schools
and then you've got the same problem as teachers - you need to start work at the same time you'll drop off at primary school And same at pick up time
so you'll need childcare
I'm a public library assistant
I work 2 Saturdays out of every three
I work Mondays and Thursdays 9am to 8pm
university library jobs are better paid so sought after more

That's true about pick up/drop off times... I wonder whether the librarian has to go to as many after-school meetings as the teachers? If not, then maybe I'd just need a childminder to collect and it wouldn't be that long till I could come & get them.

[[http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/school/Pages/default.aspx School Libraries Group. The vast majority of school libraries are in secondary schools and librarians tend to be employed on a term time + a few extra weeks. Some school libraries have assistants as well - this could be a good way to get into school librarianship. Good I.T. skills are necessary nowadays and many school librarians also have experience as teachers/TAs,

It is a good idea to have better IT skills than me. Link should be School Libraries Group!

Thank you very much!

Hi Aranea, I'm not seeing that many jobs full stop at the moment, but I'm hoping that things will be easier when my eldest starts school in Sept - only paying for one set of childcare.

Job shares are one option. I went for one in a school a while back (didn't get it but fell pregnant not long afterwards anyway!) which was a 3 day-2 day split. The jobs are out there, I guess, just a bit few and far between.