The Beloved Book

So, idk about how far along in their careers they are, so I can’t speak to that, but here’s what I’ve got. And these are just the tumblrs I follow. I know there are many, many more out there. 

Public libraries that I follow (and I think they’re all dedicated to teen service aspects of their library):

@douglaslibraryteens

@kingsbridgelibraryteens

@rcplteens

@virlibraryteens

@smlibrary

@gtpubliclibrary

@decaturpubliclibrary

@cincylibraryteen

@myrichlandlibrary

@lakecountylibrary

@lplteenzone

@mclteen

@delawarelibrary

@pflibteens

@lawrencepubliclibrary

@friscolibrary

@darienlibrary

Public librarians:

@kpltumblarians

@libraryofaliens

@peachyteabooks (I think??)

@strangenewclassrooms (the last I heard, Strange was working in a public library and going to grad school for library science)

@lifeofayounglibrarian

@misfit-librarian

@teenlib

@intrepidheroine

Prison librarian:

@bassoonontheloose

School librarians:

@heylibrarylady

@thoughtsofaschoollibrarian

@windycitylibrarian

@librarian-wanderer

Professional accounts:

@stacksetfacts - Tumblr for the YouTube channel Stacks and Facts, a library/librarian/books channel created by an MLS grad school in Vancouver

@swoonreads - YA publisher

@inkyardpress - YA publisher

@novelistra - database for readers advisory

@weneeddiversebooks - self explanatory

@americanlibraryassoc - American Library Association’s tumblr

@libraryjournal - Library Journal’s tumblr

@libraryadvocates - self explanatory

NoveList librarian:

@underthetweed

In library science school:

@mrskcreads (also a teacher)

@hipsterenglishteacher (also a teacher)

Archivist:

@thelibrawrian

Medical librarian:

@diebrarian

Digital librarian:

@thedigitallibrarian

I don’t know what kind of librarian they are, but hopefully they’ll chime in. (This is because I’m super bad at associating people’s posts. So, please don’t hate me for not remembering!):

@thelibrarian-is-in

@memorylaaaaame (I think??)

@the-library-kat

@akmargie

@librarianpirate

@lecieltumultueux

@libralthinking (I know they used to be in an academic library, but I can’t remember where they currently are.)

@librarian-by-night

@librarygirl12

@librarianlizz

@ispeakforthebooks

@thelibrarina

@yabooknerdlibrarian

If I forgot you, I’m sorry! Please add yourself!

Well, it depends on how you’re using the terms! I have usually worked in Special Collections in academic libraries, which usually have archives. The one I currently work in has history of plastics collections and significant collections of objects. So I don’t find those terms as separate as they seem in the question. 

The best ways are ideas where the Venn diagram of your followers and the other institutions’ followers are interested in the same thing. The most important thing is to figure out where your collections or your fans’ interests overlap. Medieval stuff? Cooking history? Sci-Fi? History of the book? Civil War? Whatever fits the Venn Diagram is where you start to brainstorm.

Here are some examples from work I did in the past as an Outreach Librarian in Special Collections:

1. Co-curate an exhibition. I partnered with the education coordinator for a history museum on campus to put together an exhibit about food history in the state utilizing historic culinary materials in Special Collections and exhibiting them in the history museum. We co-sponsored the opening reception. Got a huge turnout because all the advertising went out to both of our interested communities.

2. Co-found a community group. Our collections, our fans, and our followers had a shared interest in culinary history, particularly in the state. We co-founded a community group the Historic Foodies. Special Collections would provide recipe inspiration from history as the local cooks would prep historic dishes each month around a theme. We met sometimes at the library, sometimes at other community spaces. The history museum helped coordinate starting a food history contest at the state fair and providing transportation for the group to travel there and serve as judges. (The group went on to be self supporting and still has events catering local history events!)

3. Join an existing event! Campus museums partner to put on a fun Halloween event that has a huge turnout of all the local kids. We worked with them to make the theme overlap with our collecting areas, and co-ran some of the programming one year

Collaboratively partnering with third parties:

4. Archives Crawl. Local museums, archives, and libraries in walking distance all have an open house the same day. Have passports and prizes for going to multiple locations. Other institutions that are too far away in distance can have tables at the open locations. 

 5. The public library has a local history speaker series each year that books both museum and library guest speakers.

6. The local brewery has a history speaker series that books local librarians, archivists, historians, and museum curators to be speakers.

7. Ren Faire! Comic con! One of our local public libraries hosts a comic con and a Renaissance Faire. Speakers from departments at the college, from Special Collections (pop up exhibit!) and from a local museum all added some history talks to the event. (For the Ren Faire a campus English Professor and I gave a talk about Medieval books and I brought facsimiles and binding models). 

Other ideas: 

8. Share a hashtag or even share an Instagram account and cooperatively represent your town or neighborhoods cultural heritage riches there. 

9. Share your metadata. Can you get your records into one catalog? Can you share information about their relevant collections in the related section of finding aids? Through a libguide? Think about how to point people from one place to the other when you have collection in common? 

10. Pop-up exhibits! Can you pick a holiday, event, anniversary, and pick less rare items and meet up in a high traffic area on campus for a pop up exhibit? Bring a button maker. Maybe a popcorn machine. With or without vitrines. (Shameless plug for the newsletter edition I co-edited on this subject. Like and subscribe!: https://mailchi.mp/fa25d4b94a04/primary-source-news-and-notes-teach-the-teacher-2019update-326525?fbclid=IwAR2rW5cF-HnG_9pe_oOLPpf_lqWip25fxqe3kgiCzD3MA_8d-JH0knGBSyQ).

Exhibitions, speaker series, lectures, events of all kinds. Pretty much anything!

Good questions! Grab a snack, this got a little long.

What degree do you need to be calleda librarian:

Here at LCPL we require everyone withthe librarian job title to have their MLS (Master of LibraryScience). However, that’s not true of all libraries. Some librariesmay only require an MLS for the higher positions, like directors or admin, so someone with a bachelor’s could certainly be called alibrarian in some cases.

We also have Assistant Librarians.Assistant Librarians may not have an MLS. They might be working towardit, or not, but a bachelor’s degree is sufficient for this position.

We do require Assistant Librarians (andmany other positions) to be working toward their librarycertification, but that’s a state requirement - it may vary state tostate. (Here in Indiana, qualifying for your certification requiresearning a certain number of Library Education Units, which you getby going to classes, watching webinars, or attending training relatedto your job. The number of units you need depends on your position,but the state provides a LOT of opportunities to earn them and it’sgenerally pretty easy to end up with way more than you need.)

TL;DR: it depends on the library! But honestly, to most people, if you work in a library you’re a librarian ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What is a typical day like forlibrary employees in different positions:

I asked the whole Tumblr team to tossin their two cents since we’ve got people from lots of differentpositions contributing to this blog. Not everyone has gotten back to me yet since we’re all working different schedules, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging. If I hear back from more people, I’ll add on to this post.

As you might expect, librarystaff like words so it got a little long. We’ll add a Read More to save your dash. Here’s what we’ve got:

Chris (Librarian, Branch Head):My#1 tip - learn how to plunge an overflowing toilet without gettingyour shoes wet.

My actual advice -

A typical day is dealing with whateverthe library users throw at you. So, there’s a lot of variety and youhave to like working with people of all types.

I’ve long argued that an MLS, or MLIS, isn’t necessary and shouldn’t be necessary to a library career.  Instead, it should be a supplement for those librarians looking to teach or to be administrators, not unlike the way advanced degrees are in fields like nursing.

In this article, Rebecca Stavick breaks down very well all the ways in which the MLS/MLIS requirement hurts librarians and library staff:

The “MLS haves vs. havenots” culture is toxic 

The vast majority of people with MLS degrees are white (” Do you think it’s a coincidence that the vast majority of librarians are white, or do you think it’s due to a tradition of racism in our country which has denied generations of people of color from accessing higher education? Asking for a friend.”  YES YES YES THIS.)

The weird focus on the MLS as the only degree in our field (i.e., degrees in other fields such as Communications, English, Psychology, or any of the sciences would come in handy).

There are fewer young people working in libraries now than three years ago (and because an advanced degree is so prohibitively expensive, they won’t join)

There are other ways to do this– better ways that encourage young people and minorities.  I like Stavick’s ideas (encourage skills over degrees, create “library boot camps”), and think they could be expounded on.  Why not make a bachelor’s degree required, and let librarians be certified in particular fields (public access, technical services, etc.)?  

hello! sorry for the late reply, i’ve been really busy helping my mom move and taking care of the cats (our kitten just got his neuter) on top of regular grad school business. thanks so much for liking my blog, it means a lot ♡ sorry this is way long, there’s a TLDR at the bottom.

it’s awesome you are looking into the LIS field! personally, i had this hilarious, sitting in the bathtub, aha! moment realization that librarianship actually aligns with my ethics and would be worth looking into.

((i don’t know where you live, but all my information is going to be based on my program in america. LIS can be really different by region, so my experiences definitely might not apply to where you are.))

for the most part, i’ve had an incredible experience with my program! i’ll get to the hum drum boring academic issues i have with it later, but positivity first:

it’s a really inclusive program!

on multiple fronts! there’s an online and on-campus program, so students have accessible options to taking courses. there’s also a large multicultural element to drexel. as a nonbinary trans student, drexel has been a really accepting and chill place to be out.

there are incredible networking opportunities!

while the program offers networking mixers, there are also class project chances to network. i’ve had multiple projects where i’ve had to interview someone in the field. it’s great exposure to different job types as well as to people who are interested in helping you grow in your future career!

for real the last person i interviewed told me that she’d be happy to help me get an internship at her old super awesome archives 

i get practically weekly emails with internships and job opportunities within the field!

Drexel is on a quarter program, so i can finish my degree in half the time!

full time, my program takes 1.5 years

normally it takes 3

LIS is a really progressive field and values accessibility, diversity, taking care of your community, etc.

there are great student opportunities in LIS organization such as the ALA (american library association) to further your learning, get student tuition discounts at your university, attend networking and workshopping events, etc.

i feel really fulfilled, driven, and purposeful!

the hum drum academic nonsense:

while i’m enrolled as an on-campus student, a fair amount of my classes are online

i have to pay more money to take the same classes as online only students because of my enrollment status

if i wanted to be an online student that’s how i would have enrolled?

all of the specialized/elective classes are online

if you like online courses this isn’t a problem but as someone who learns a lot better in a sit down lecture, it sucks that i can’t access specialized topics in a way best suited to my learning 

see also the weird pricing difference

classes aren’t offered as often as you’d think despite the quarter system

the introduction to archives classes are being offered once a year. i missed out on them this time around because i wasn’t sure going into my degree if i was interested in taking them. i have to wait for fall 2019 for them to swing back around now (i’ll be almost done my degree, that’s really late to be taking beginning specialization classes).

Drexel did away with field specializations

so there’s no specialization for law librarianship, medical librarianship, archives, children’s librarianship, etc.

apparently it used to cause students a lot of anxiety to pick a specialization? it causes me more anxiety this way tbh

10 weeks is not a lot of time; despite the quarter program, students still do a semester’s worth of work. it’s a lot of reading and a lot of projects in a little bit of time. 

more field specific nonsense:

the best LIS opportunities are in cities

all the best funded projects are typically in cities

this leads to really poorly funded projects in suburbs and rural areas

also i dislike cities, they give me anxiety, this is a personal problem

with our current government, there’s a field wide lack of funds

thanks a lot for prioritizing libraries, donald

there’s a huge lack of employees, which leads to MSLIS degree holders achieving a management level position, on average, 6 months out of their degree

i mean this can be fine but for people with no prior leadership or managing experience that isn’t a lot of time to get experience in a field before you are expected to manage in it

also, personality wise, a lot of people who go into the field don’t want to manage they just want to do good library work

CIRCE BY MADELINE MILLER

genre: historical, fantasy, classics, mythology

premise: banished on a deserted island by Zeus, Circe, daughter of Helios, perfects her skills as a witch and encounters the most famous figures of Greek mythology. 

ft. a complex heroine, powerful women, witchcraft & greek mythology.  

Want to travel the world seeking out cool libraries? There’s a site for that. The project is just starting, and there are 20-some libraries already listed, each with a blurb and lots of pictures.