Hello all
I am not Tony (obviously - due to the gender difference!). However, I am 24
- I work as a Children's Librarian, I have 9 years Library experience (if
you count the 3 years as a Saturday Assistant before university, the 3 years
Relief I did while I was studying, my 18 months as a Library Assistant after
graduating, and my 2 years as a Children's Librarian).
Clearly Tony is working in London or the South (in Hampshire this is nearly
a realistic salary - before tax - for a chartered librarian).
I understand from a recent job ad I have seen that the Prison Librarian in
one site is paid at one level higher than their equivalent in a public library.
I find myself in a similar position to Tony though - where should I go next?
Part of the issue for me is that my current post has a decent salary - any
other Library and Info jobs I am qualified for would mean a pay drop of at
least £3000. I considered the Prison post, but after consideration feel
that maybe it isn't the job for me (I feel I need a few more years
experience before I am equipped to deal with a prison environment).
I agree with the comments about progression to management level - in these
days of restructures and streamlining there are fewer posts further up the
hierarchy. Colleagues keep trying to remind me that in 10 years time a
third of the Public Library work force are due to have retired, and that
there will be opportunities then for me - do I really want to wait until
then though?
The other issue this article does not consider is location ties! I would
not want to move (for personal reasons) too far from where I currently live.
That means that an "international swap" is out of the question, and working
as a "freelance librarian...could earn [him] between £100 and £400 a day" is
risky - I have no idea where you would start to get into this, and there
would be no guarantees of a days work either - something not hugely useful
when you have to pay rent/food/living costs!
So thank you Guardian for giving me some of these options, but I'm still
none the clearer as to "what else can I do".
However, on the positive side, it does paint a more enlightened image of a
librarian than the media usually do- and will highlight to members of the
non-library community about the variety of jobs there are in our sector. It
also highlights some of the more obscure skills required to be a librarian.
Thanks to Nicky for bringing this to our attention - interesting to note
that it was not mentioned in the Daily News Bulletin I received from CILIP
yesterday, or the Weekly Information News received today.
Just my twopennys worth,
Hannah
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