When I told my Dad about missed opportunities at work, he got angry and went on a mini tirade about how I could do better and make more somewhere else and why do I want to work in a library anyway?
First of all, I’m not convinced I have strong earning potential many places. Part of the reason I think I’ll do well in the library world is that it’s an asset to do a lot of things pretty well rather than one thing extremely well. From looking at a lot of wanted ads, in the corporate world it is all about specialization. I do a lot of things well, but there is no one thing I can point to that I know nearly everything about. There’s also the fact that I would get bored doing the same thing every day.
Beyond that, though, I like the idea of working in a library. I never really took to the idea of advertising- I don’t want to make people think they need something they don’t. I tired of being an artist (that is, one who makes a living off their work) because there’s already so much stuff out there that people don’t know how to deal with, why add more? What draws me to librarianism as a profession is the potential to help people learn, to organize their own information and incorporate more. I want to learn how to do this myself, and I want to pass it along. Acquiring and processing information is a full time job anymore- there’s just too much. I want to help, I want meaning, and I know I won’t find that meaning just anywhere.
I hope that it’s obvious I’m excited about librarianship (is that even a word?) because I really, really am. I don’t think it’s the only thing I could do that would make me happy, but it is definitely one of them. It will all hinge on finding the right job.
There are still more traditional library jobs out there than there are “library 2.0″ jobs- the jobs I want, the ones that are designed to incorporate technology into the library. I’m trying to position myself to get one of these phantom jobs- I already have background as an HTML programmer/designer, I know about XML, and I plan to teach myself some form of programming (I’m gonna start with Ruby), more XML, and XLST before I am out of school. I am as excited as anyone about new web technologies, and I look forward to seeing how they can be used in a library setting.
My goal in learning new technologies is not to be a developer. Libraries need developers- people who build programs from scratch. I’m a big fan of John Blyberg, who build a new interface for his libraries catalog, adding social capabilities like reviews and tagging. I’m a little in awe of people that can do this- and I’m fairly certain that won’t be me. I aim to be able to tweak existing code, to take what’s out there and refine it to a local level. I think there will be a demand for that as well- as more and more code becomes open source, it becomes possible to find something and fit it to existing circumstances rather than building from scratch. I am, of course, very excited when I hear of libraries using Ubuntu- I hope I can help build and be a part of continuing opensource revolution. I hope I can help with more advanced technical queries from patrons as well.
Truth be told, I don’t know exactly what I will end up doing. Heck, I’m only a few credits into my MLS, I have a while. Plus my idea of what I can do changes every day. I’m starting to have a lot more confidence in my own ability, thanks to a few very nice people, and it’s a great feeling.
Past Present and Future – Part 1: Where I am
Past Present and Future – Part 2: What I think about where I am