[Publib] Boomers -- Library Jobs

[Abbie Anderson]

On 7/17/07, K.G. Schneider <kgs at bluehighways.com> wrote:
>
> This is an interesting graph, but the problem is that it assumes a
> constant,
> which is the correlation between the library job market and the use of ALA
> jobseeking functions.
>
> Through no fault (just time and things changing), jobseekers and suppliers
> interact much differently than when I first marched into the ALA job fair
> area, resume in my hot little hands (though I marched out and started a
> tizzy about loyalty oath requirements, as I recall...). I hear of a lot of
> people who come to ALA with interviews set up outside the usual ALA
> functions. It doesn't mean there isn't a use for the job functions, but
> the
> Web has changed things for newcomers and seasoned job searchers alike.
>
> K.G. Schneider
> kgs at freerangelibrarian.com


Just as one example of job-search practice:

I completed my MLS with Indiana University in Dec. '05 at the age of 40.
Luckily for me, I already had a full-time "library-adjacent" job as Curator
of Education (a.k.a. outreach officer) for an anthropology museum. My goal
was to find a job involving youth services (children and/or teens) in the
Pacific Northwest, to relocate closer to family.

I did not use placement services at annual (wasn't close enough to my MLS at
Chicago in '05, which I did attend, and couldn't afford to go after I
graduated!). Although recruiters came to campus, none were from the Pacific
Northwest, and nobody was beating down any doors to offer us jobs (just
pause to consider that concept!). I relied primarily on the online job
postings from the Pacific Northwest Library Association (www.pnla.org); on
publib, YALSA-L and ALSC-L job postings; and increasingly on the job pages
of the main employers for the region. I was very happy to be hired in Sept.
'06 by the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District (www.fvrl.org) as branch
manager for one of their smaller branches, in Woodland, WA. I am delighted
that I get to serve people of all ages, and that my work is so closely tied
to community involvement.

FVRL advertises nationally for higher-level positions. I'm pretty sure we do
not staff a recruitment station at annual, however.

Post-retirement health care will continue to be a major concern, and I don't
see things getting any easier (for employers or retirees) in the next 25
years as I approach retirement age. I shudder to think what will be left of
Social Security and/or Medicare by the time I get there--much less what
younger folks' options will be. Pensions and other guaranteed benefits are
increasingly unsupportable for employers. I have no kids of my own, so my
best plan is to cultivate close relationships with young people who might
take us in when we're old and feeble (I'm only partly joking, here).

Hey, Boomers, are you getting tired of being told that you are going to
destroy this nation with your health-care needs as you live longer than your
predecessors, you dirty rats? Ahem.

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-- 
**********************
libraryabbie at gmail.com
Abbie Anderson, Community Librarian
Woodland Community Library
Fort Vancouver Regional Library District
   "The story is our guide. Without it we are blind." --Chinua Achebe
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