ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003 /  661

C o l l e g e  &  R e s e a r c h  L i b r a r i e s  nsew

There’s  a  job for you

by Laura Saunders

In the last couple o f years, there has been much discussion about the projected 
shortage of professional librarians and the 
looming challenge for libraries to recruit and 
retain new talent. Much of the concern stems 
from the fact that librarianship is an aging 
profession, and within the next ten to fifteen 
years, there will be more people leaving the 
profession than there will be new graduates 
to replace them. An article by Rebecca 
Lenzini points out that 25 percent of librar­
ians will reach age 65, traditional retirement 
age, by 2009, and by 2019, that number will 
jump to 58 percent.1 Compounding the prob­
lem is the fact that many librarians are not 
waiting until they are 65 to retire.

According to James Matarazzo, 1990 cen­
sus data shows “librarians retiring at 63 years 
of age, and far fewer librarians working af­
ter age 65.”2 In the meantime, the number 
of library school graduates remains relatively 
flat, with little fluctuation from year to year.3 
ACRL counts recruitment and retention of 
librarians as one of its most pressing issues.4

Although this news might sound encour­
aging for new MLS graduates, the economic 
recession— as well as factors such as the 
slowdown in the tech industry and the Sep­
tember 11 terrorist attacks—has meant that 
the current job market is tighter than might 
have been expected from the above research.

The Christian S cience M onitor reported, 
“the demand picture is decidedly a mixed 
bag depending on region and state economic 
conditions,” with states such as Massachu­
setts, California, Arizona, and Illinois facing

some of the tightest budget crunches,5 re­
sulting in fewer openings.

The Boston Public Libraries’ Real Sheet 
reports that 51 of their librarians who were 
within five years of retirement have opted to 
take early retirement packages while the li­
brary director is only being allowed to fill 15 
of those positions, although he intends to 
petition for additional positions.6

The New England Jobline, which posts 
library openings for the New England area, 
saw a 13-5 percent decline in job postings 
from 2000 to 2002.7 At the moment, how­
ever, the market is tight and new graduates, 
as well as others returning to the field or 
simply looking to change positions, are hav­
ing to search harder than they did a few 
years ago.

Nevertheless, library job-seekers should 
not despair. Librarians are trained to find 
obscure information using complex retrieval 
sources. While this work may seem routine 
at the reference desk, many librarians forget 
to apply this training when they begin job­
hunting. By using several proven job-search- 
ing strategies, new library school graduates 
should be able to conquer even the tough­
est job market.

There are three basic strategies for job­
hunting, and dedicated job-seekers should 
use all three strategies in combination to find 
the best jobs.

S tra te g y  1: N e tw o rk in g
The first, and probably most important, strat­
egy for job-hunting is networking. Network-

A b o u t th e  a u th o r

Laura Saunders is career resource/reference librarian a t Simmons College, e-mail: laura.saunders@simmons.edu

Navigating a tight job market

mailto:laura.saunders@simmons.edu


662 / C&RL. News ■ N ovem ber 2003

ing is vitally important because, despite the pro­
liferation of job postings, an estimated 75 to 95 
percent of job openings are never advertised,8 
but are passed on by word of mouth.

Before beginning to network, you need 
to define your goals and review your résumé 
so that you can speak easily about your prior 
job experience, skills, and qualifications.

At this point, you can develop a brief 
introduction about yourself to use in any 
netw orking situation. This introduction 
should include information, such as educa­
tion, job experience and particular skills, as 
well as an overview of what type of job or 
experience you are seeking. It can be a brief,
20-second “sound bite” or a longer “com­
mercial,” as described by Katharine Hansen 
in A F oot in the Door?

Next, identify some contacts and talk to any­
one and everyone that you know. Even 
people who are not directly connected to 
the field of library science could be good 
sources o f information. They may have 
friends of their own in the field or working 
in the type of setting that you hope to enter. 
Faculty and classmates are another great net­
working source. Many faculty members are 
still active in the field of library science, serv­
ing on boards, consulting, or doing research. 
In addition, alums will often solicit recom­
mendations from the faculty for openings in 
their places of employment. Likewise, class­
mates are often working in libraries and are 
aware of openings or know who to contact 
about open positions.

Other graduates of the program are an­
other great networking source. Many colleges 
and universities maintain a network of alumni 
who are willing to serve as mentors. Alumni 
or career offices should have a list of other 
graduates of the program who are currently 
employed in the field.

Additional networking contacts can be 
made through professional associations. As­
sociations such as ALA, ACRL, SLA, or their 
regional branches, offer their m embers 
myriad ways to connect with other librar­
ians in the field. Attend conferences and 
events to meet other professionals who are 
active in the field. Often word of jobs will 
be passed around at these events before 
the openings are posted. Many of these as­
sociations also post jobs in their newslet­
ters or on their electronic lists.

S tra te g y  2: Job postings
The second job hunting strategy is to search 
through actual job postings. There are a number 
of ways to access position openings, and some 
ways are better than others. Large, general 
job banks, such as Monster.com and Hot 
Jobs, do not offer much in the field of li­
brary science. You get more relevant results 
by searching the many library-specific job 
banks available online.

There are also several metalists that orga­
nize these job banks and provide easy ac­
cess to them, including Library Job  Postings 
on the Internet (www.libraryjobpostings.org), 
LIS Jobs (www.lisjobs.com), and the Simmons 
C o lle g e  C areer R e so u rce  L ibrary site 
(w w w . s i m m o n s . e d u / l i b r a r i e s / c r l /  
library.html). Follow the links from any of 
these pages to find the job banks best suited 
to your needs. ACRL publishes job positings 
in C&RL News. These postings, along with 
online only ads, can also be found on their 
Web site (www.ala.org/acrl, select “Career Op­
portunities” from the Quicklinks dropdown 
menu).

Use limitors judiciously when searching 
any of these job banks. The more limits the 
you place on a search, the fewer results will 
be generated. Try several different synonyms 
as keywords to broaden your search results. 
For instance, if you are searching for a ref­
erence position, try the words referen ce, 
re a d ers services, p u b lic  s e rvices, and even 
instruction to get the most results.

Finally, especially in a tight job market, 
you may need to broaden your criteria a bit. 
Perhaps a new graduate’s dream job is in a 
corporate library, but he or she is finding no 
suitable openings. The graduate might con­
sider a position in an academic library with 
a business focus, where many of the same 
resources and research skills can be devel­
oped in preparation for a corporate job.

S tra te g y  3: T a rg e t em p lo yers
The third and final job hunting strategy is to 
target employers. With this method you com­
pile a list of potential employers, research 
the organizations, and market yourself to 
those organizations, whether there is a suit­
able position posted or not. To create this 
list of employers, you need to define your 
career goals, and then find institutions that 
might recruit in those areas. For instance, a

http://www.libraryjobpostings.org
http://www.lisjobs.com
http://www.ala.org/acrl


C&RL News ■ N o ve m b e r 2003 /  663

librarian with a biological science back­
ground might be interested in hospital librar­
ies or in universities with graduate programs 
in the health or medical sciences.

A number of directories exist to help you 
compile this list, such as the A m erican  Li- 
brary Directory  or the P eterson ’s G u ide to 
G raduate Schools, either online or in print, 
for academic libraries.

Once you have created a manageable list, 
look for job openings that match your quali­
fications and apply if one exists. If there are 
no current openings, you can still market 
yourself to the organization by sending a 
résumé with a cover letter expressing your 
interest in the organization, detailing the type 
o f position you are seeking and listing the 
skills and qualifications you would contrib­
ute to such a position.

Follow the résumé in a week to ten days 
with an e-mail or phone call to the organi­
zation. Reiterate your interest in working for 
that institution and inquire about the status 
of your résumé. You could also ask about 
the possibility of setting up an informational 
interview, which is a great chance for you to 
learn more about the organization and to 
market your skills and qualifications.

Either way, an informational interview 
offers a great chance for you to learn more 
about the organization and market yourself 
to the managers. Kate Wendleton’s book Get­
ting Interviews offers an excellent overview 
of informational interviewing tips and tech­
niques.10

Although some job-hunters are skepti­
cal of targeting employers because it is la­
bor and time intensive, it can be a very ef­
fective job-hunting strategy that should not 
be overlooked.

The key to targeting employers is to be 
selective in compiling a list and to keep the 
number of potential employers manageable. 
In general, five to ten employers would be 
more than enough for this type of search. In 
addition, you must be consistent in following 
up with these organizations. In most cases, 
simply sending a résumé, especially one that 
is not targeted for a specific opening, will not 
lead to a match or a hire. You must take re­
sponsibility for making further contact with 
the library and demonstrate your interest and 
enthusiasm, as well as your qualifications.

(con tin u ed  on  p a g e  669)



C&RL News ■ N ovem ber 2003 / 669

This is an excellent, effective model cre­
ated by the California State University sys­
tem. The challenge for college and research 
libraries across the country is to build part­
nerships and connections with teaching fac­
ulty who are enthusiastic not only about in­
tegrating information competency, but cham­
pioning the potential with their colleagues 
as well.

These workshops were successful be­
ca u se  lib rarian s and te ach in g  facu lty 
worked together to create an effective li­
brary assignment. As Evan Färber once 
said, “When that cooperative relationship 
works well, it can result in assignments 
that approach, if not reach, what I con­
sider the ideal: where both the professor’s 
objectives and the librarian’s objectives 
are not only achieved, but are mutually 
reinforcing the teacher’s objectives being 
those that help students attain a better 
understanding o f the course’s subject mat­
ter, and the librarian’s objectives being

( “Navigating a  tight j o b  m a rk et” con tin u ed fr o
Perhaps most importantly, you should not 

get discouraged, but should be persistent in 
your search. In the current market, it can 
take an average of three to six months to 
find a job, so new graduates might not ex­
pect to have a job lined up upon gradua­
tion. But with time and patience, they will 
find openings.

Asked what advice he would give new 
graduates looking for library jobs, James 
Matarazzo, former dean of the Simmons 
College Graduate School of Library  and In­
formation Science, said to make concessions 
about “where you will live, how far you will 
drive, what kind of library you will work in. 
Make those concessions up front and then 
apply. There’s a job for you.”11

Notes
1. Rebecca T. Lenzini, “The Graying of 

the Library Profession: A Survey of Our Pro­
fessional Association and Their Responses,” 
Searcher, 10, no. 7 (2002): 88-97. Library Lit­
erature Database, WilsonWeb (accessed 
April 28, 2003).

2. James Matarazzo, “Libraiy Human Re­
sources: The Y2K Plus 10 Challenge,” The 
Jo u r n a l o f  A cadem ic Librarianship, 26, no. 4

those that enhance the students’ ability to 
find and evaluate information.”13

Conclusion
These examples of partnerships and con­
nections represent only a few of the thou­
sands developing at colleges and universi­
ties. We must constantly learn how to better 
market our services and resources. As 1 
stated earlier, collectively we are beginning 
to see progress in our outreach effort as we 
build effective relationships throughout our 
campuses. Administrators, staff, teaching fac­
ulty, and students— all important members 
of our learning communities— have critical 
roles in encouraging the support and effec­
tive use of libraries.

Notes
1. “ACRL Board of Directors’ actions, June 

2003,” C&RL News 64, no. 8 (September 2003): 
518-521.

(con tin u ed  on  p a g e  681)

 p a g e  663)
(2000): 223-4. Library Literature Database, 
WilsonWeb (accessed April 28, 2003).

3. Jennifer Jacobson, “A Shortage of Aca­
demic Librarians,” C hronicle o f  H igher E du­
ca tio n  C a reer Network, August 14, 2002, 
c h r o n i c l e . c o m / j o b s / 2 0 0 2 / 0 8 /  
200208l401c.htm (accessed May 1, 2003).

4. W. Lee Hisle, “Top Issues Facing Aca­
demic Libraries: A Report of the Focus on 
the Future Task Force,” College a n d  R esearch 
Libraries News, 63, no. 10 (November 2002). 
Library Literature Database, WilsonWeb (ac­
cessed May 1, 2003).

5. Mark Clayton, “Outlook Mixed for 
Nation’s Librarians,” Christian Science M oni­
tor, April 8, 2003. Lexis Nexis Database (April 
23, 2003).

6. Serena Enger, “November Trustees 
Meeting,” The  R eal Sheet 32 (2003): 5-6.

7. Clayton, “Outlook Mixed.”
8. Katharine Hansen, A Foot in the D oor 

(California: Ten Speed Press, 2000), 16.
9. Ibid., 67-72.
10. Kate Wendleton, Getting In terviews 

(New Jersey: Career Press, 2000).
11. James Matarazzo, interview by au­

thor, April 29, 2003, in Boston, Massachu­
setts. ■

m