Brian Kenney: How to Land a Library Job

I thoroughly enjoy Brian’s columns at Publisher’s Weekly:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/58574-how-to-land-a-library-job.html

A snip:

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: if you want to be hired as a librarian, get ready to move. Many of you are probably already in a large city or a university town with a library school, plenty of recent graduates, a public library that hasn’t hired anyone since 2008, and academic libraries that are only making part-time appointments. You’re going to need to look nationally, especially to land that first position.

This is tough love—the sort I ignored back in the early 1980s. When I graduated from library school, the national unemployment rate was nearly 11%, and I refused to leave New York City. As a result, I spent two years cobbling together a living as a circulation clerk before I landed a full-time gig. Today, the wait could be even longer.