Forgive me for my bleak conversation opener. I know that there are job prospects for people with a library and information studies (LIS) skills set, it’s just that it doesn’t really feel like it right now. This brief December post is a reflective piece at the close of the year and after almost two years of returning to a formal workplace. It follows another challenging year in the information profession marking some uncomfortable milestones:

• Cuts to budgets affecting all library sectors
• Closure of some facilities and services across all library sectors
• Redundancies of respected library professionals across all library sectors
• The pitifully low salaries of staff in some sectors, e.g. those working in the public library sector at the library assistant grades, library manager grades etc.
• Lack of new employment opportunities across some or all library sectors
• Lack of employment opportunities in certain geographical areas

 

While the significant digital changes that have altered librarianship continue apace.

People working in the sector are really struggling to cope with the financial challenges. Monetary concerns have an effect upon every sector of the profession, whether you are a new entrant just starting out, mid-career library returner or seasoned professional. It can affect someone personally, i.e. not being paid enough for the work that they are doing, or not being paid enough for the area that they have chosen to work or live. Or it can mean that budget limitations within the workplace make it impossible to innovate.

Continuous restraints on spending can lead to low morale amongst the library workforce. For example, increasingly spending reviews in public libraries result in reduced opening hours, closures to libraries, recruitment freezes and redundancies.

How do you offer advice to restart library careers after breaks in such circumstances?

At times this like this, it’s good to review the positive words of other library colleagues through books, blogs and websites, consider career return strategies and to look forward to the year ahead.

Feeling the need for new insights into what I can do with my LIS skillset I’ve been been spending time reading Rethinking Information Work: A Career Guide for Librarians and Other Information Professionals by G. Kim Dority 2nd ed Libraries Unlimited, 2016 and also reading the posts on Kim’s blog at Infonista.com

NLPN have compiled a list of blogs and other resources they have found useful over the years too and these can be found here.

Sometimes it takes a relauncher to understand the myriad of emotions experienced by those who try to restart their careers after a break. Carol Fishman Cohen has been helping those who thought they could never go back to forge new careers through her company iRelaunch. The podcast series 3, 2, 1, iRelaunch, in particular, has been used to try to get my groove back.

No doubt financial challenges, recruitment freezes and employer skillsets are all topics libraryreturners.com will return to in the New Year. There is already a long list in production!

 

Happy new year everyone!

Blwyddyn newydd dda i bawb!