Good News: Librarian Job Growth Exploding!

Quick quiz: Is the employment outlook for librarians growing or shrinking? The answer depends on what you call a “library job.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for librarians is “slower than average,” with a projected rate of change in employment this decade of 7%, slower than the 14% average growth rate for all occupations.

This sounds bad! Who wants to join a profession where you need a Master’s degree and the projected rate of employment growth is half of the national average?

But dig a little further into the BLS description of a librarian and a picture starts to emerge. For example, some of the BLS librarian duties include:

  • Plan programs for different groups, such as storytelling for young children
  • Read book reviews, publishers’ announcements, and catalogs to see what is available
  • Choose new books, audio books, videos, and other materials for the library

BLS partners with a site called O*Net OnLine that provides a more detailed report on librarianship, including the tools and technology used in the occupation. According to O*Net, some of the tools of the library trade include cash registers, microfilm readers, photocopiers and public address systems and technologies such as email, spreadsheets and desktop publishing software.

Then take a look at their list of the top four tasks of librarians:

  • Analyze patrons’ requests to determine needed information, and assist in furnishing or locating that information.
  • Search standard reference materials, including online sources and the Internet, to answer patrons’ reference questions.
  • Teach library patrons basic computer skills, such as searching computerized databases.
  • Plan and teach classes on topics such as information literacy, library instruction, and technology use.

Are you getting the picture? The BLS description propounds a somewhat parochial view of what it means to be a librarian these days, and the sad truth is that the “traditional” library they describe is becoming rapidly endangered as government budgets come under intense scrutiny.

The problem is, the BLS view doesn’t describe too many of the librarians, archivists and museum professionals I know. Just for kicks, let’s compare the BLS librarian description to the job area of Computer and Information Systems Managers, which O*Net describes as having a “bright outlook” (projected to grow at a rate of 29% or more this decade):

  • Consult with users, management, vendors, and technicians to assess computing needs and system requirements.
  • Stay abreast of advances in technology.
  • Provide users with technical support for computer problems.
  • Assign and review the work of systems analysts, programmers, and other computer-related workers.
  • Evaluate the organization’s technology use and needs and recommend improvements, such as hardware and software upgrades.

Funny…that list looks a lot more like the job descriptions of the librarians I know!

Never was this worldview disconnect more apparent than when my colleague Erin Engle and I spoke at the Fedlink Fall Expo (PDF) back in October. We spoke at the “Forging a Digital Roadmap: The Preservation, Curation, and Stewardship Nexus” event, which was sponsored by the NewFeds and Preservation Working Groups.

In my keynote presentation (PDF) I proposed some possible areas for new federal librarians to pursue if they had an interest in technology (big data, digital humanities), assuming the necessity of pointing out these interesting opportunities in librarianship.

Little did I realize that the NewFeds panel of early-career government information professionals that followed would be full of people talking not just about possible opportunities but demonstrating the incredible technology-based work they are already doing.

The panelists included Robin Butterhof, a digital conversion specialist in the Serial And Government Publications Division of the Library of Congress who is working on the National Digital Newspaper Program; Bianca Crowley, a collections coordinator from the Biodiversity Heritage Library who described the challenges of making their content available across an international taxonomic community; Wanda Davila, who described a signal management research tool being developed by the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the Food and Drug Administration (a tool to identify potentially dangerous food and drug issues out of massive amounts of unstructured data); and Piper Mullins, the program coordinator of the Pan-Smithsonian Cryo-Initiative (did you know that the Smithsonian collects frozen things?)

(A webcast of the entire event is available.)

Even though the panelists all self-identify as librarians, the type of work they do is somehow missing from the BLS librarian job descriptions. There are efforts happening all over the place to define what it means to be a librarian, but I still don’t see terms like “digital archivist” or “repository librarian” or “library digital infrastructure and technology coordinator” showing up in general descriptions of librarianship, even in well-meaning ones like the American Library Association’s (I don’t think the word “puppets” should appear in any librarian’s job description ever again).

Librarianship is an increasingly technology-focused profession and that’s only going to become more true in the future. There are still all kinds of stereotypes (or worse) that have to be dealt with, but if we don’t act quickly to define the new face of the profession, others will do it for us, and it won’t necessarily be in our favor.

So what are we going do about it?

Talking About Museums and Digital Preservation

In anticipation of the Museum Computer Network conference next week in Seattle, I’ve been giving some extra thought lately to museum community involvement in digital preservation. We (the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, that is) work with many partners from a range of industries, and in the last couple of years this has …

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Using Wayback Machine for Research

The following is a guest post by Nicholas Taylor, Information Technology Specialist for the Repository Development Group at the Library of Congress. Prompted by questions from Library of Congress staff on how to more effectively use web archives to answer research questions, I recently gave a presentation on “Using Wayback Machine for Research” (PDF). I …

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DAMs Vs. LAMs: It’s On!

As digital preservation and stewardship professionals, we approach digital objects from a unique perspective. We evaluate the long-term value of any particular digital object and work to develop a technical and social infrastructure that will enable us to successfully preserve the objects over time. Preserving and providing appropriate access are our primary functions, but no …

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Archivematica and the Open Source Mindset for Digital Preservation Systems

I  had the distinct pleasure of hearing about the on-going development of the free and open-source Archivematica digital preservation system twice this year. First, from Peter Van Garderen at the CurateGear conference and second from Courtney Mumma at a recent briefing on the project for staff at The Library of Congress. Peter and Courtney both …

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Media Archaeology and Digital Stewardship: An interview with Lori Emerson

In what we hope will become a regular feature here on The Signal I am excited to have a chance to chat with Lori Emerson, a representative from the newest member of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance. Lori is the Director of the Media Archaeology Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Department of English …

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Mapping Federal Geospatial Stewardship Efforts

I’m obsessed with maps, especially digital maps. I’m continually amazed by the tools being developed to use location data to make our lives easier. Luckily, this interest dovetails with NDIIPP’s concerns about ensuring that digital mapping survives for the long-term, so I’m regularly scanning the landscape to figure out ways we can engage the wider …

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The October 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available

The October 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/newsletter/201210.pdf In this issue: *Find out how you can help define levels of digital preservation *Reflections on CurateCamp processing *Read about three individuals who are working on the preservation of video games *Learn about the difference between domains and subdomains in web archiving …

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The Cultural Heritage and Data Storage Communities Come Together

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Designing Storage Architectures for Digital Collections meeting, or the storage meeting for short. Why is this annual meeting a highlight for many of my colleagues here at the Library? Because it zeros in on the critical data storage challenge cultural heritage organizations face …

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