http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6705870.html

It’s pretty interesting to see 3 Virginia libraries on the list. Williamsburg and Fredericksburg regional libraries are places where there isn’t really a whole lot to do so the library is a good destination. Fredericksburg has a lot of new housing developments, with a lot of young families with kids, since people move there to commute to Richmond or the D.C. metro area. Falls Church is right in the middle of a ethnically diverse area in a very populous and rich county.

Sometimes I tend to hate rankings and lists because there are probably hundreds of better libraries out there that do things right that really matter. Every library is different and every community or regional library has different resources and needs.

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Looking for a job? Here is my list of the Top Ten (10) Job Search Engine/Job Hunting sites on the web.

Indeed.com – Indeed is a meta-search engine of most of the major job search engine sites.  It generally brings up the best listing of jobs that I am looking for fast and conveniently.

SimplyHired.com – Simply Hired is another good meta-search engine job site.  It seems to have maybe a few different sources than Indeed, but it is very similar.

Careerbuilder.com – Careerbuilder has been a very reliable job search engine for a long time.  The search interface is very good and you can narrow searches down by category, company, city, and state. 

Hotjobs.com – Hotjobs is Yahoo’s job search engine and has always been quite popular. 

Craigslist.com – This is a good place to search for local jobs in the area you are living at or searching for jobs in specific states or metro areas.

Jobcentral.com – This is a decent search engine.  I do not think it is licensing any other major search engines so you won’t be seeing the exact same thing.

Monster.com – Monster is a another good search engine, although I hardly ever go there.  You can also search for their jobs using Jobs.com, since it’s part of Monster.

Dice.com – This is a good place to look for tech related jobs.

Oodle.com – This is another meta-search engine site with probably a couple different sources than Indeed and Simply Hired.  It is a classified site and an alternative to Craigslist. 

USAJobs.com – If you are looking for a Federal Government job this is the place to go.  

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Read this article today:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-26-kindle-school-library_N.htm

Basically a private boarding school is eliminating most of their book collection and going all electronic with an ebook collection using Kindle. The old collection was barely being used so they believe this is better. I don’t really think it’s necessarily bad or good. I just think if the students were not using the library, the collection wasn’t being updated very well and the school curriculum and teachers didn’t make their students use it to learn how to do normal offline research.  Not all libraries can be substituted for ebooks. Not everyone has a computer or kindle or ever will have one. Reading text on screens is not for everyone either. Do they seriously think Ivy league schools will eliminate their huge collection of books in which students actually use for research? That’s one dumb prep school.

I don’t see why they couldn’t of just kept the collection or go through and thoroughly weed it to create some extra space for the new amenities. I can see why it may be beneficial for leisure reading and required readings, since they can order and read the latest bestsellers or classics. It sounds like the library got popular because of all the other changes besides the switch to ebooks. They aren’t there for the ebooks so it doesn’t make any difference if it was an ebook or regular book.

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1. I love reading books.
2. I’m an English, history, or philosophy major and reason #1.
3. I need a new, less stressful, and more fulfilling career. (An excuse to do reason #1)
4. I want to be a school librarian / library media specialist. (I want to escape the classroom).
5. I worked in a library or bookstore and would like to at least earn a livable wage. (I don’t want to always be at the bottom of the food chain.)

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In order to become a librarian, one requires completing an accredited graduate library school program. A MLS or MLIS from an American Library Association accredited master’s program will qualify you for most librarian positions.

Below is a list of library school programs listed as being able to complete 100% online or fully online without having to attend any physical face to face classes. You can search for this list at the ALA website.

Several library science programs have turned to becoming fully online in order to reach a larger audience and provide access to working students.

Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Drexel University
Florida State University
North Carolina Central University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
San Jose State University
Southern Connecticut State University
Texas Woman’s University
University of Alabama
University of Puerto Rico
University of Southern Mississippi
University of Tennessee
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Wayne State University

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If you want to become a cataloging librarian you probably should take the one or two cataloging courses in your library science program. My guess that would be an introductory course and then maybe an advanced course or another introductory course on metadata, tagging, digital markup or whatever the latest lingo is. It all comes down to that you want to be a professional cataloger and deep down you know all the hype is for making more people interested in making librarianship more hip and current. Cataloging is an essential part of the librarian profession and those who don’t think so probably love to call themselves information professionals instead.

A cataloging course should probably cover the basics of AACR2 rules, MARC, and the Library of Congress classification system. Dewey should also be briefly covered, but sadly it is published in a 4 set volume that only crazy catalogers or organizations using Dewey would own. There also is WebDewey from OCLC which may be accessible. It is a very useful tool but most library school instructors probably would not know how to fully use it correctly, unless they’ve been using it a lot currently as a Dewey cataloger. Most library science students interested in libraries would have experience using their public library systems and know the general Dewey number categories. OCLC seems to have a monopoly on cataloging which isn’t a good thing. If your instructor is hands on, they would go through OCLC copy cataloging and using OCLC’s Connexion software (online and desktop versions) to create and edit records.

The next part of your journey is to gain practical experience, either through an internship or volunteering. This is probably the best option. Find somewhere needing a collection or something cataloged. If any cataloging tech jobs open up you should apply for it and be enthusiastic about it.

If you are unable to get any sort of cataloging experience you sadly will have to rely on LUCK. Either an organization is willing to hire you as an entry level cataloger (lets face it.. very few do), or you just take on any cataloging opportunities that open up at the library you work at or inquire about doing projects on the side with the cataloging section or catalogers.

There are also courses provided by Solinet and Palinet which has combined into one company called Lyrasis. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets taken over by OCLC. That’s what I call consolidation…. “We will own you and train you.”

There also is The MARC of Quality which isn’t that bad, I attended a Book Blitz II session. Very MARC intensive training. More library science programs should schedule training seminars for their students. Unfortunately they’re much to interested in anything meta data related when the most robust and useful meta data standard in the world is already in existence if maintained and used properly.

If you land a cataloging gig you probably should do it for at least 2 years or more. Thats the popular number it seems in all the cataloger or cataloging librarian job ads. Don’t hesitate to take the unpaid cataloging opportunities or technician jobs if you know this is what you want to do. You have to start somewhere and most libraries now realize they need a good technical services staff before they can start playing around with the fancy projects and crap being dreamed about out there.

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According to this new article a lot of private college loans will not be wiped out from bankruptcy. Anyhow I think if you went to college you should be resourceful and intelligent enough to pay it off.

I can not recommend anyone going to a costly library science program. It’s difficult to obtain a librarian position and the pay is usually not very high. New public school teachers in many areas make more than new librarians. If you want to make a difference and help people learn while making a decent living, there are many other better options out there.

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1. College Tuition

I probably would not go to my undergraduate school, in the present day, if I had to pay the current tuition rates. I think for my last year of tuition for my bachelor’s degree in 1999 it was 13k plus room and board. Now students are paying 27k and 1K+ in fees in addition to room and board and that comes out to a minimum of 36k, no way! My cousin has decided to attend the same school, which would normally make me happy but when you think about the debt they’re getting into then they’re just nuts.

As for library school tuition. Go to your local state program. Otherwise don’t go at all or make sure you’re ambitious and know exactly what position you want that will justify becoming one. In which case you probably shouldn’t be wasting your time studying to be a librarian.

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1. College tuition loans

I guess I’m starting this blog to share my views on the library world and get on the library 2.0 bandwagon…. or maybe just crash it.

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