Shame on Library Schools!
C/O Blue Robot
Finding work as a librarian is next to impossible, especially in California where budget cuts have slashed full-time public library positions and school libraries continue to be run by under-qualified paraprofessionals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for librarians is growing at a slower pace compared to other occupations, a mere 7 percent from 2010 to 2020. Forbes Magazine rates Library Science the worst graduate degree to obtain for jobs.
In spite of these facts, USC just created a new online Library Science Program. It’s so new, accreditation is still pending. California’s library schools continue to increase enrollment, churning out MLS and MLIS grads without consideration of our job climate. I found one great blog post about this topic @ In the Library with a Lead Pipe. The author, Brett Bonfield, writes:
One concern, at least for recent and future library school students, is that library schools have already begun conferring more Master’s-level degrees. The number of degrees conferred increased every year between 1999-2000 and 2007-08. In addition, in the two academic years following the ten years included in the average above (1997-98 through 2006-07), Master’s-level graduates from library schools numbered 7,162 (2007-08) and 7,091 (2008-09). That not only makes the job market especially competitive for recent graduates, it also means, if the number 54,500 was correct, that library schools should aim to graduate roughly 40,320 for the eight years remaining in the BLS ten-year projection, an average of 5,040 for the academic years 2009-10 through 2016-17.
Recently, the National Council on Teacher Quality investigated and rated teacher credential programs. One of the measurements used was identifying how many trained teachers were hired after graduating from the programs. The report indicated that out of 239,000 graduates from 1,000 schools, only 98,000 were hired! Less than half of newly credentialed teachers were able to find a job!
In today’s LA Times I read that law schools are now decreasing the number of students they enroll in their programs. To quote the Dean of Loyola, “…we have a moral obligation not to just take tuition dollars and then turn a blind eye when our graduates can’t find jobs.” The Dean and Chancellor of the UC Hastings School of Law says, “I’m just looking at the numbers, and you’d be an idiot not to see what these numbers mean. We have produced a glut.”
Let’s read that again. “WE HAVE PRODUCED A GLUT!”
This new groovy service gives an outline of how much California community college students may earn upon graduating with their Associate’s Degree. Library Technicians with an Associate’s Degree, for example, may earn $20,612. Obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree might allow a student to earn $23,779. Since the California’s minimum wage has now been raised to $8 per hour for an annual salary of $15,360, that means Library Technicians with an AA may earn $5,252 more per year and $8,491 more per anum with a Bachelor’s Degree. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that librarians with a Master’s Degree earned a median annual salary of $54,000 in 2010. That’s a lot more than minimum wage, but how much does library school cost? And, $54,000 only counts if you, like, HAVE A JOB!
Shame on library schools! If job placement can be used as a measurement for the quality of higher education, then library schools, especially in California, are currently failing their students. IT schools and law schools provide job placement. They analyze job statistics and factor them in when accepting new students. Library schools should do the same!
I find this blog the day after I submitted my application to a college to begin their MLIS program. I have someone who has continued to try and dissuade me from the MLIS and even still this article disheartens me. I started in a teacher education program and figured out it really wasn’t what I wanted to do.
Here’s a different way to look at library school. Now that you are more aware of the facts, demand some changes from the inside! Use your grad experience to get library school teachers to think BIGGER about what they teach, and what to provide students, i.e., more internships and stronger job placement.
Thanks. Inspired by your question, this morning at Linkedin, I did a survey of this kind of treatment (on one side) and some links to what may sound like the other side’s view. The post is now up at my blog: Librarian’s (LIS) career inside—or outside—jobs in the traditional library setting: Hype or Hope??? at my blog for Library Technicians’
http://lit2542006.blogspot.ca/2013/08/librarians-lis-career-insideor.html
Lots of great data. Did you decide yet? Hype or hope for librarians?
Employment prospects in libraries may not be good, but the the skils learned in library schools can be applied in many other fields. If someone sets their sights on working in a public or school library, they may have trouble. But they should look wider and the schools should emphasize those other possibilities. Mine did.
I agree. Library schools should be emphasizing other possibilities. Currently they teach students to be library advocates, but don’t do much in the way of breaking the mold that the profession is trapped in.
This is an excellent post. Since graduation in 2010 I have been aware of the dire job market but my dismay has been steadily increasing in the past year (job hunting for many months will do that to you) when I see the number of people going into library school/interested in the field of librarianship and the number of people already in the field without jobs. I have thought back to my library school program and how EASY it was. I flew through it, without seeing the ease of it as a sign of the state of librarianship. You point out how programs are just accepting students and churning out graduates and I think that shows the umbrella problem, that library schools need to be held to a hire standard (aka accrediting entities need to do that asap), create programs that prepare librarians for the demands of the diverse workplace, and evolve with people, technology, and the digital age.
Finding a library job today is difficult. It shouldn’t be when considering all the fields that actually NEED librarians. Consider Electronic Medical Records or E-book Software Companies. Librarians could make these products better and more user-friendly, if only the companies knew and appreciated what modern librarians do. Library schools must stop continuing to contribute to the “glut” of grads who lack the skills they need to compete and promote themselves. Much of what makes me an effective and dynamic librarian, I learned on the job or taught myself. It had very little to do with what I’d been taught in library school, which was mostly theory. Such a shame. Such a waste. Library schools need to wake up and improve their product!
I have personally dissuaded 2 people from getting an mls; even though I have one.
Saying a university has a moral obligation is like saying a corporation has a moral obligation: it’s a pipe dream. The buyer must do the research and make the choice. The two people I spoke with did just that: asked someone in the field. They avoided the costly mistake of attending Drexel university by having a 5 minute conversation!
Univetsities exist to make money; their only obligation is to follow the law. And no law will restrict commerce not in America.
I agree that incoming students should beware of their choices before deciding upon library school. However, if library schools don’t understand how the job market has shifted, how can they train graduates to cope, compensate, overcome, or re-invent the field? I for one expect more from higher education institutions, especially since they’ve raised tuition so much within just the last decade.
I think it’s also up to the professional associations/accrediting organizations to make this an issue. Obviously librarianship isn’t the same as the medical field but what if they didn’t adapt with up-to-date research and “consumer” need and were still using whiskey and saws for surgery? I see a parallel but I definitely think it’s next to impossible to create a sweeping change within graduate programs.
Amen!
I am also dissuading many people from getting an MLIS. They will come out of school in debt and unable to get a job or a job that pays a living wage so that they can pay back their loans. I have been looking for a job for over seven years – the job I had was going the way of the dinosaur and I knew that the library (worked there for over 10 years) would be closed at some point so I started looking ahead of time. No jobs to be had or if there are jobs, literally 300 applicants. Something is wrong with this picture. DON’T GET AN MLIS. Go into healthcare or a field where you will be able to get a stable job.
Chris, when I was getting my MLIS, I kept asking why librarians weren’t more involved with electronic medical records. They SHOULD BE, right? It’s a shame that more library schools don’t collaborate with other departments to create meaningful internships for their students. Consider how powerful hands-on experience with pre-med or nursing database structures could be. Not only would the grad be more employable, but the medical records (and other) fields would recognize, “Hey, librarians know how to organize data and provide access to info in user-friendly ways.”