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This is surprisingly variable and diverse field you are entering. The notion that libraries are dinosaurs heading into the tar pit is ridiculous. Large corporations need archivists. Presidential libraries, university libraries, public library systems all have different opplrtunities. Museums need archivists. The ALA conferences will have some recruiters. Most of the people at public libraries are not librarians in the sense that they have the education and credentials but there is usually one or two that do. In a medium sized library system there might be a coup!e dozen. In an urban setting you will have homeless people in the library with certain challenges and needs. That's were kids go after school to wait for mom or dad. Programs are helpful to keep them all occupied. In a rural area there might be one MLS librarian in charge of several branches miles apart. There are areas where knowing Spanish is an asset. Each state has an archive and some cities. State historical societies hire archivists. There are a lot of interesting and varied challenges and the skill is portable so pick a spot and try it out and move on if it doesn't fit.
My wife was a librarian without the benefit of a MLS and enjoyed the work. That was in a town of about 40,000. She also taught literacy programs. My daughter (MLS) is a museum archivist but was a childrens' librarian, and a researcher at a state historical society, and at a state archives. Once you get experience and a track record you can find your niche. Don't be too picky at first. You probably need to forget about public transit meeting your needs.
This is surprisingly variable and diverse field you are entering. The notion that libraries are dinosaurs heading into the tar pit is ridiculous. Large corporations need archivists. Presidential libraries, university libraries, public library systems all have different opplrtunities. Museums need archivists. The ALA conferences will have some recruiters. Most of the people at public libraries are not librarians in the sense that they have the education and credentials but there is usually one or two that do. In a medium sized library system there might be a coup!e dozen. In an urban setting you will have homeless people in the library with certain challenges and needs. That's were kids go after school to wait for mom or dad. Programs are helpful to keep them all occupied. In a rural area there might be one MLS librarian in charge of several branches miles apart. There are areas where knowing Spanish is an asset. Each state has an archive and some cities. State historical societies hire archivists. There are a lot of interesting and varied challenges and the skill is portable so pick a spot and try it out and move on if it doesn't fit.
My wife was a librarian without the benefit of a MLS and enjoyed the work. That was in a town of about 40,000. She also taught literacy programs. My daughter (MLS) is a museum archivist but was a childrens' librarian, and a researcher at a state historical society, and at a state archives. Once you get experience and a track record you can find your niche. Don't be too picky at first. You probably need to forget about public transit meeting your needs.
wow! your daughter has my dream job—i hope to one day be a museum archivist. until that position opens up someplace, i'm happy almost anywhere. the mlis is definitely a very versatile degree that opens up many doors.
you're right that requiring public transit is a pretty severe limitation, and i should start driving so i have more options. that said, i would really like to live somewhere where transit is available (and downtown is walkable), if only because i prefer the culture of cities where everyone isn't in their cars all the time.
With all its federal government, NGO, and corporate offices, it seems like the Washington DC metro might have loads of job opportunities in your field. Obviously it's a pretty big metro, so there are lots of options in terms of where to live, both inside and outside the District, all of which would, as always, be tied to where you work. But DC seems to check off all your boxes.
in a couple years, i'll be graduating with my master of library & information science. i'll be eligible to work as a librarian, archivist, records manager, etc. these sorts of jobs are available (if sparse) across the country.
i want to live somewhere with a rich history, interesting architecture, and friendly people. i often like college towns, but college town-adjacent is also fine. big cities are fine, especially if the cost of living is reasonable. if there aren't festivals and concerts in town, i'd like to be able to catch public transpo into a nearby city for those events. i'm apathetic about weather. as a single female, a low crime rate is appealing, but i also like to think i can take care of myself.
i like albany and other upstate ny cities. i visited ithaca (more of a town, i guess) about 10 years ago and thought it was really nice. i also have family in the springfield, ma area and both of my parents attended umass amherst. i've always resented that they moved us to the charlotte, nc suburbs before i could walk!
thanks for the input. western ma and upstate ny definitely have a lot of options for me.
Didn't you say you are 22? I'd definitely visit again, and do not rely on 12 year old's impression. I recently re-watched the Never Ending Story... and glad a teenager me didn't decide to become a movie critic.
I have taken a couple of classes from the SLIS department at my school while getting my grad degree. Mostly coursework that had to do with database design, information retrieval, management and storage. If you have good IT skills, you should be able to score related jobs anywhere. People who say library science is dead, do not know what they are talking about. We probably now as humans are creating a lot more information than we ever had in our history. Someone needs to make sense of all that, and create optimal ways to store and retrieve that knowledge. I had a co-worker in Boulder, CO., who after getting his degree in library science got a very lucrative offer from a start up that was doing some interesting work related to information management. Not sure if you have those kind of skills but I wouldn't completely write off IT world either. SQL and database design are relatively easy skills to learn (when compared to say computer languages).
I travel the country and right now I am extremely bullish on Chicago. In fact, I've been here for a couple of weeks and it's amazing.
Museums, architecture, public transportation, decent cost of living vs. pay. And Midwestern Nice is actually real.
For the person touting Denver. Ewwww! Are you high when you see those clear skies? The city is dirty with horrible smog. Heck, most days you can barely see the Rockies from Denver.
I travel the country and right now I am extremely bullish on Chicago. In fact, I've been here for a couple of weeks and it's amazing.
Museums, architecture, public transportation, decent cost of living vs. pay. And Midwestern Nice is actually real.
For the person touting Denver. Ewwww! Are you high when you see those clear skies? The city is dirty with horrible smog. Heck, most days you can barely see the Rockies from Denver.
How long have you been living in Chicago? Just visiting? It's a known fact (look up Illinois Exodus) that people are leaving Chicago in droves. Many are simply moving to nearby small towns, others are leaving to other states. The biggest difference between big cities like Chicago and LA for example is that the out-migration is outweighing in-migration exponentially. Chicago is simply not attracting young graduates anymore. And, more interestingly, high earners, especially established, professional Black people are moving out of Chicago. That's never a good sign.
IMO, Chicago has a very exhilarating vibe to it. It probably feels the most down-to-earth and also cool, upscale city in America. Maybe because it was mostly started off as a big blue-collar, industrial city.. so it doesn't have the pretentiousness of other mega cities. But, it definitely is having a problem maintaining it's population and attracting new residents. Conservatives may tell you that it's because of high taxes and crime, but it must be complicated than that. After all, people are still moving to places like Seattle and San Jose. Personally I think Chicago missed out on attracting and creating a tech hub that attracts young people. It should have invested more in parts of the city that young people could actually afford. I dunno, it just seems like Chicago thought it was too big too fail, and by the time it figured out that something was off, other cities were full on with incentives and investments attracting 20 somethings like crazy.
I'd stick with college towns or college rich areas where academia is valued along with history and cultural amenities you're more likely interested in. The tipping point I think will be friendlier people (the big NE metros aren't especially known for that) and cost of living. Amherst MA has three colleges in town (UMass, Amherst College and Hampshire College) and loads of historical sites. Albany NY could be another option being the NY state capital along with SUNY-Albany, Siena College and Rensselaer Polytechnic University (RPI) located there.
I agree. I’d also add several other cities or towns in New England. New Haven is a nice mid sized metro area with several colleges including Yale, Albertus Magnus, University of New Haven and Quinnipiac. The OP would be near New York and not far from Boston. There are trains available to both. The suburbs of New Haven are wonderful, particularly the shoreline ones, Branford, Guilford and Madison, east of the city. They have a nice beach feel.
Another town the OP might consider is Middletown, Connecticut. It is home to Wesleyan University. Not far are the colleges in New Haven as well as other schools like University of Hartford, Trinity, St. Joesph’s, UConn, UConn Law, and UConn Medical. Middletown is is nice small city with a great little downtown. There’s lots of restaurants of small shops. Plus Middletown is convenient to both Hartford and New Haven as well as employment centers in central Connections, Waterbury and even Fairfield County. Worth consideration. Jay
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