Article: "Majority of States report decline in Support for Library Services"

[Dockside]

Originally Posted by Narmowen

Coming into this late, but the majority (well over 90%) of librarians ARE white females. Here's an interesting presentation about how skewed the races are in librarian positions: http://www.klaonline.org/docs/BlackMaleLibrarian.pdf

Most upper level librarian positions (management) are white/men, in a career that is predominantly white/female.

I'm not buying this whole article. I graduated with my MLS in 2010 from a university in NYC and despite reaching out to the community, very few black males were interested in becoming a librarian. It's a very low-paying job, fine as a second career for many of us, but uninteresting for many young up-and-comers. Very few librarians make enough to live on their own comfortably, most librarians I know do it for the love of the job and to supplement their spouse's salary.

[Narmowen]

Oh, I totally get that. I don't buy that either, but I thought the parts about the races & librarian charts was interesting.

(MLIS 2010 myself from Wayne State.)

If you think that article is interesting, try this blog: The Professional Life of an African-American Male Librarian

[graceC]

Originally Posted by TheBigGuy

You seriously need to get a master's degree to work as a librarian? Seriously? What's so hard that you can't learn about being a librarian on the job? There are so few library programs, so few libraries, and there is virtually no advancement from being a librarian. Even going to barber college or beauty school is a better idea. There are more barber colleges and beauty schools, more barber shops and salons, it's easier to become a barber or stylist, and better advancement. And you learn a lot more, involving hair and skin treatment.

Actually there are other areas that someone with MLIS can pursue outside of working in a library. They just become a librarian in a different field / arena. One field is Records Management, and no, I'm not talking filing. Many corporations (not to mention the Federal Government & Military branches) hire MLIS graduates to help them with record management, especially electronic kind. Who do you think handle, sort, classify, and declassify the data collected by the government? I know many private corporations (especially if they have a strong R&D department) also utilize librarians in similar field. I used to hire a lot of them when I was working for a big pharmaceutical firm. The pay is pretty lucrative too, easily six figures for those with experience.

[sll3454]

We (voters in my area) approved a library in the fall of 2012. So far there have been a few focus groups, but no sign of a library yet.

[Giesela]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

These days, I only listen to the right wing radio nuts sporadically, but back in the '90s I listened to Limbaugh daily. Back before he took himself seriously. Back when he was still a nut, but at least a good-natured entertaining nut. Before he got mean.

And yeah, it's a common refrain. The radical Right doesn't want the government to do anything for the common good --- except occasionally bomb brown people in other countries. And if they could find a way to privatize the military, they'd do that too.

Agreed to all of this. I can only pick up a right wing radio station for my alarm clock in the morning and I work in an extremely right wing environment with Foxnews on all day OMG
The right is very anti-intellectuals, anti-smart, anti-educated; all these things are equated to people that are those damn liberals.

People are easier to influence and control when they are uneducated. And that's why libraries are so important.
I live in an all white mid to upper middle class area and our library is always jumpin. I used to go to a more inner city library in a different city and same thing - always jumpin, especially computer rooms. People need them!