CAREER AS A

SCHOOL COLLEGE

LIBRARIAN

In sti tute Re search Num ber 159 ISBN 1-58511-159- 7

DOT Num ber 100.167-030 O*Net SOC Code 25-4021.00

CAREER AS A

SCHOOL – COLLEGE

LIBRARIAN

SCHOOL MEDIA SPECIALISTSOME TIME IN HIS TORY, A STE REO TYPE of the school li brar ian emerged:the prim woman, gray ing haircoiled firmly in a bun, check ingbooks in and out, andad mon ish ing stu dents who werelate re turn ing books and hush ingthem if they talked out loud. Ifever that li brar ian ex isted, sheex ists no more. To day’s schoolli brar ian may be young or old,male or fe male. He or she is ame dia-savvy pro fes sional, al waysup-to-date on the lat esttech nol o gies and trends ined u ca tion. School li brar i ans – alsoknown as li brary me dia spe cial istsor school me dia spe cial ists at theK-12 level (kin der gar ten through12th grade) – now jug gle manyroles and may have dif fer ent ti tles,in clud ing teacher, in for ma tionspe cial ist, me dia spe cial ist, pub licre la tions pro fes sional, man ager,and ad min is tra tor.

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As new tech nol o gies have emerged over the past few de cades, the li brar ian’s role has evolved. The tra di tional li brary, lined withbook shelves and searched man u ally us ing a card cat a log, has beenre placed by a so phis ti cated multi-me dia en vi ron ment where stu dentscan ac cess in for ma tion via the Internet, CD-ROMs, and DVDs. Pro jectsthat would have once taken weeks or even months can now becom pleted in the space of hours, thanks to these new elec tronic tools.Com puters are en abling stu dents to quickly look for books, re searchterm pa pers, or visit a mu seum thou sands of miles away. Stu dents can even browse li brary hold ings with out step ping foot in the li brary, justby log ging on to their home com puter. To adapt to these changes,li brar i ans have had to be come ad ept at nav i gat ing the dig i talland scape and work ing with so phis ti cated tech nol o gies.

School li brar i ans must also keep up with the lat est pub lish ingtrends, choos ing books and other ma te ri als that are not only rel e vant,but ap pro pri ate to the stu dents’ age- and read ing-level and to theteach ers’ class room cur ric ula. They must be able to step intoad min is tra tive and man a ge rial roles, ne go ti at ing con tracts for li braryma te ri als and equip ment, hir ing and su per vis ing li brary staff,over see ing bud gets, and even rais ing funds for the li brary throughbook sales and other events.

But even as the school li brar ian’s re spon si bil i ties have changed,the core of the job re mains the same: to co or di nate ed u ca tionalef forts with school fac ulty, and to gather and share in for ma tion withstu dents. That in for ma tion may come in many forms – books,mag a zines, websites, story time, or li brary skill in struc tion.

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ROLES OF THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN

Teacher This role is most es sen tial dur ing the K-12 years – thosefor ma tive years when chil dren are learn ing to read, write, and tode velop their skills as stu dents. First and fore most, a li brar ian’sre spon si bil ity is to the stu dents, and he/she must be dil i gent aboutde ter min ing and ful fill ing their ac a demic needs. The li brar ian iden ti fies these needs through dis cus sions with teach ers and schoolad min is tra tors, as well as by talk ing to the stu dents di rectly. He/shethen de signs and builds the li brary’s col lec tion to sup port and en richclass room cur ric ula, and to en hance the stu dents’in for ma tion-gath er ing abil i ties. The li brar ian de signs spe cialas sign ments that in te grate class room ma te ri als, while teach ingvalu able ref er ence search ing skills.

Af ter guid ing stu dents in their search for rel e vant in for ma tion, the li brar ian must teach them how to ac cess that in for ma tion bythem selves. That teach ing role is of ut most im por tance, be cause it sets stu dents up to achieve in fu ture ac a demic and re search en deav ors. Infact, a re cent study found that stu dents’ read ing test scores in schoolswhere li brary me dia spe cial ists played an in struc tional role were anav er age of five to 10 points higher than test scores in other schools.

Reading AdvocateLi brar ians who work in K-12 schools are also charged with fos ter ing alove of read ing in their stu dents through such ac tiv i ties as book talks,story times, and li brary ex plo ra tion. They help stu dents pick out booksthat match their read ing level and in ter ests, and work closely withteach ers to de velop age-ap pro pri ate cur ric ula and ac quire ma te ri alsthat sup port class room in struc tion. Li brar ians may also cre ate spe cialevents to get chil dren read ing. They may stage a pup pet show, showthe movie ver sion of a chil dren’s book, host an arts and crafts pro ject,or spon sor a sum mer read ing con test, of fer ing prizes for the mostbooks read.

Reference SpecialistRef er ence li brar i ans are ex pert sleuths, track ing down in for ma tion and re search ma te ri als for stu dents, pro fes sors, and ac a dem ics. But first,they must de ter mine the needs of each in di vid ual by ask ing a fewques tions. What is the pro ject? What sub ject(s) does it cover? Whichma te ri als are best suited to the pro ject – print, au dio-vi sual, orda ta base? Where can these ma te ri als be found – within the li brary, atother li brar ies, or on the Internet?

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With tech no log i cal in no va tions, the search for in for ma tion hasnow gone far be yond the li brary’s walls. In ad di tion to their owncol lec tions, ref er ence li brar i ans now have at their dis posal on lineda ta bases, mag a zines and jour nals, and cat a logs from thou sands ofother li brar ies.

Collection AdministratorMost K-12 li brar i ans, and reader ser vices li brar i ans at the uni ver sitylevel, make the de ci sions when it co mes to pur chas ing li braryma te ri als. To make ed u cated de ci sions, li brar i ans must keep up withpub lish ing trends. To lo cate cur ric u lum-ap pro pri ate books, mag a zines,vid eos, and other ma te ri als, li brar i ans reg u larly read pub lishercat a logs, book re views, and Internet guides. With the wealth of me diaop tions now avail able, the li brar ian must also de cide which for mat ismost ap pro pri ate: for ex am ple, would a print copy or a CD-ROMver sion of a sci ence en cy clo pe dia best suit the stu dents’ needs? Thebook would be more por ta ble, but a CD-ROM might be eas ier tosearch and up date with cur rent ma te rial.

Technical ServicesWith out or ga ni za tion, no li brary would be able to keep its doors open. The vast vol umes of in for ma tion that make up each li brary’s col lec tionmust be cat a loged and man aged. These tasks are com pleted by thegen eral li brar ian in grade and high schools, and by a spe cial izedtech ni cal ser vices li brar ian at the col lege or uni ver sity level. Thisli brar ian clas si fies books and other ma te ri als by sub ject, date, for mat,au thor, ti tle, and sev eral other char ac ter is tics, cre at ing a re cord that iskept in a card cat a log or com puter da ta base where stu dents can eas ily find it. With the ad vent of the Internet, cat a logs are ac ces si ble on line,en abling stu dents to ac cess and search da ta bases from home. Thetech ni cal ser vice li brar ian may also over see book cir cu la tion, add newbooks to the col lec tion, and re place worn or dam aged ma te ri als.

Manager Be hind the scenes, the li brar ian de fines the li brary’spol i cies and prac tices, man ages bud gets, hires and su per vises qual i fied em ploy ees.

The li brar ian must set and then en force all of the rules andreg u la tions gov ern ing the li brary. These in clude lend ing pol i cies – forex am ple, how long stu dents can keep books, how of ten they canre new them, and how much they will be fined for late or lost books.Reg u la tions also ex tend to the use of li brary com put ers and Internetac cess, in clud ing re strict ing young stu dents’ ac cess to in ap pro pri atema te ri als.

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With out care ful bud get ing, the li brary would quickly run throughits yearly mon e tary al lo ca tion and have noth ing left over for spe cialevents or pro jects. It is the li brar ian’s job to over see bud gets, de cidewhere money will be spent, and pe ti tion school ad min is tra tors forad di tional funds when needed.

Even in the smaller schools, the job of run ning a li brary is toogreat for just one per son, which is why the work load is shared byas sis tants, tech ni cians, and vol un teers. The li brar ian must se lect theseem ploy ees af ter a care ful in ter view pro cess, and, once they are hired,su per vise them on a daily ba sis.

The num ber of li brary tech ni cians is ex pected to grow faster thanthe num ber of li brar i ans over the next de cade, which means thatli brar i ans can look for ward to over see ing an in creas ing num ber ofem ploy ees.

Media SpecialistThese days, li brar i ans are re quired to be tech ni cally ex pert be causethey work with a wide range of me dia on a daily ba sis. Most li brar iesmain tain their own com put er ized da ta bases, which the li brar ian setsup, man ages, and trains stu dents to use. Li brar ians must be able tonav i gate their way around the Internet both to lo cate in for ma tion andto share that in for ma tion with other li brar ies re motely.

Many li brar i ans are also me dia spe cial ists, re spon si ble for han dling and set ting up au dio-vi sual equip ment for class rooms. Some de velopand main tain their li brary’s website. Once fully ac quainted with thewealth of equip ment avail able, me dia spe cial ists share theirknowl edge with their stu dents. The les sons may range from ba sicin struc tion on us ing a com puter mouse, to more com plex tasks, likeup dat ing a Web page. The me dia spe cial ist also shows stu dents howto nav i gate the over whelm ing vol ume of in for ma tion on the Internetto make their search more man age able.

The smaller the li brary, the more re spon si bil i ties the li brar ian willhave. In larger uni ver sity li brar ies, a li brar ian will spe cial ize in one area, such as ac qui si tions, ref er ence, spe cial col lec tions, or cat a log ing. Insmall pri mary school li brar ies, the li brar ian may do ev ery thing fromshelv ing books, to help ing stu dents lo cate re sources, to set ting up theli brary’s website.

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The Expanded Role of the College Research Librarian Atuni ver sity li brar ies, pro fes sional li brar i ans are also ex pected to con duct on go ing re search, pub lish, give lec tures, and be come ac tively in volvedin pro fes sional or ga ni za tions.

Uni ver sity li brar i ans are also charged with the pres er va tion ofhis tor i cally sig nif i cant ma te ri als. They may be in volved in trans fer ringprinted ma te ri als to mi cro film, re stor ing dam aged items in thecol lec tion, or ar chiv ing in for ma tion to com puter da ta bases.

HISTORY OF THE PROFESSION

THE HIS TORY OF THE SCHOOL LI BRAR IAN PRE DATES THE OPEN ING OF THE FIRSTli brary. In fact, li brar i ans would have lit tle more to do to day, had it not been for the ad vent of writ ten lan guage. To ex am ine the his tory of the writ ten word, we have to travel back more than 25,000 years to thecave walls that housed the first prim i tive im ages. Cave paint ingsrep re sented man’s ear li est at tempts at pre serv ing his sto ries to passon to fu ture gen er a tions.

The ad vent of a true writ ing sys tem co in cides with the tran si tionfrom a wan der ing hunter-gath erer life style to a more sta ble agrar ianso ci ety. Sym bols rep re sent ing ob jects or con cepts have been foundthat date back to the an cient Mesopotamians (3500 to 2000 BC).These in scrip tions were made by mark ing with the sharp tip of a reedor stick in wet clay tab lets. The tab lets were then baked to pre servethe text. The sym bols be came known col lec tively as cu ne i form.

The an cient Egyp tians took the next step in de vel op ing a writ tenlan guage. Their col lec tion of signs and sym bols be came known ashi ero glyph ics, or “writ ing of the gods.” The Egyp tian al pha betcon sisted of 24 signs that rep re sented in di vid ual let ters. For the firsttime, writ ten text be came por ta ble, as the Egyp tians be gan us ingpa py rus (made from reeds found along the banks of the Nile river) tore cord their lan guage.

Around 1,000 BC, al pha bets be gan emerg ing in civ i li za tions alongthe east ern Med i ter ra nean. The Phoe ni cians, Greeks, and Etrus cans allde vel oped their own forms of writ ing. By around 500 BC, the Greekal pha bet be gan to re sem ble the let ters we use to day. The Greeksde vel oped the pre cur sor to the mod ern al pha bet by build ing upon the Phoe ni cian writ ing sys tem and add ing vow els to the Phoe ni cians’con so nants. Fol low ing the Ro man con quest of Greece in the first

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cen tury BC, the al pha bet be gan to take on a rec og niz ably mod ernform. In fact, the let ters of the Eng lish al pha bet orig i nate from theRo man ver sion. The Romans wrote on pa py rus, wax, or parch ment,and de vel oped a more flow ing cur sive script. Pa per was in vented bythe Chi nese in 100 AD, al though it was not used in other parts of theworld un til sev eral hun dred years later.

As writ ten lan guage caught on, and more and more au thorsbe gan re cord ing their thoughts on pa per, the need arose for places tostore and col lect their works. These de pos i to ries be came known asli brar ies. The an cient Greeks were the first pro po nents of the li brary,an idea that grew out of their love of lit er acy and in tel lec tual pur suits.The ear li est li brar ies were filled with books that had been re pro ducedin copy shops and sold by book deal ers. Though the first pub lic li braryemerged some time around the fourth cen tury BC, pri vate li brar ieswere more prev a lent at the time. The Greek phi los o pher Ar is totle, forex am ple, is said to have amassed a large pri vate col lec tion.

The first great li brary was built in Al ex an dria around 300 BC. Some of the books in its col lec tion were pur chased from mar kets in Ath ens,Rhodes, and other cit ies along the Med i ter ra nean. Oth ers wereac quired through more un scru pu lous means, sto len from vis i tors whowere dis em bark ing from ships docked in Al ex an dria, or bor rowed from other cit ies’ col lec tions and never re turned.

Books at the time were not made from pa per, but rather fromscrolls made of pa py rus and some times leather. Each of the rolls in the col lec tion had to be hand writ ten by scribes. At its height, the li braryheld close to half a mil lion scrolls. The li brary be came an in tel lec tualmeet ing place fre quented by sci en tists and schol ars. But by thebe gin ning of the Chris tian era, fire, war, and plun der de stroyed theAl ex an dria li brary and dec i mated its once great col lec tion. Only itsleg acy sur vived to pro vide a model for fu ture li brar ies world wide.

In the sec ond cen tury BC, the Romans boasted their ownsub stan tial li brary col lec tion, much of it pil laged through wars andgath ered from pri vate col lec tions (in clud ing Ar is totle’s). Af ter Jul iusCaesar’s death, a large pub lic li brary was built in Rome. The li brary was staffed by slaves and freed men, who fer ried the large pa py rus rollsback and forth. Scribes cop ied manu scripts to add to the col lec tionand re paired dam aged rolls. The ti tle of li brary di rec tor was con sid ered a great honor, and cov eted by many as pir ing gov ern ment ser vants. Atthe time, li brar ies re mained the do main of the in tel lec tual elite:

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teach ers, schol ars, and sci en tists. The gen eral pop u la tion did theirread ing at the baths, which housed their own li brar ies.

Fol low ing the col lapse of the Ro man Em pire in the fifth cen turyAD, pub lic li brar ies vir tu ally dis ap peared in the West ern world, due toin suf fi cient gov ern ment funds and a lack of in ter est. But the re li giouscom mu nity took over. Mon as teries built their own li brar ies, hous ingex traor di nary col lec tions filled with manu scripts the monks du ti fullyand me tic u lously cop ied by hand. The mon as ter ies ex panded theircol lec tions by lend ing books to one an other, which in tro duced theidea of the inter-li brary loan.

Dur ing the Re nais sance, and its re vival of Greek and Ro manthought, many Eu ro pean aris to crats built sub stan tial book col lec tions.Many of them do nated their books to the new uni ver si ties open ingthrough out Eu rope, which them selves founded large and sig nif i cantli brar ies for their stu dents and fac ulty.

At the time, most books were re pro duced man u ally by hand orwith wood cuts. But an en ter pris ing in ven tor named Johann Gutenberg changed all that when he came up with the idea of the move ablepress around 1455. With his print ing press, books could be pro ducedand re pro duced rel a tively cheaply and eas ily. Gutenberg’s in no va tionre placed bulky scrolls with more por ta ble printed books.

The pop u lar ity of li brar ies grew dur ing the 1600s and 1700s.Many state-funded col lec tions were started, and de vel oped intona tional li brar ies. The French opened a na tional li brary in Paris, calledthe Bibliotheque Nationale de France, in 1367. In 1759, the Brit ishLi brary, the larg est li brary in the coun try, opened its doors. It alyboasted sev eral im por tant li brar ies in Flor ence, Vat i can City, and Mi lan.

The first Amer i can li brary was started in 1638, when aMas sa chu setts cler gy man named John Har vard do nated 400 books toa uni ver sity that even tu ally adopted his name. The Har vard Uni ver sityli brary has since grown to be come the larg est of its kind in thecoun try. An other cler gy man named Thomas Bray started the first freelend ing li brar ies in the col o nies in the 1600s. In 1731, BenjaminFrank lin founded the first sub scrip tion li brary, in which mem bers paiddues to bor row books. It was called the Li brary Com pany ofPhil a del phia.

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The in tro duc tion of the school li brary co in cides with thede vel op ment of the pub lic li brary in the late 19th cen tury. As waves ofim mi grants ar rived on Amer ica’s shores, the idea of free pub liced u ca tion de vel oped, and along with it the idea of the free pub licli brary. The first pub lic li brary in the coun try opened in 1833 inPeterborough, New Hamp shire. Phi lan thro pist An drew Car ne giehelped fund more than 1,700 pub lic li brar ies be tween the late 1800sand early 1900s.

One of the most pas sion ate pro po nents of the school li brary wasMelvil Dewey, orig i na tor of the Dewey Dec i mal Sys tem used to clas sifyand or ga nize li brary col lec tions. Dewey helped es tab lish the Amer i canLi brary As so ci a tion (ALA) in 1876. In 1892, he helped pass a bill thatpro vided funds to school dis tricts for the pur chase of li brary books.

Around the turn of the 20th cen tury, the role of the li brar ian wasstill con sid ered to be cler i cal in na ture. But li brary pro po nents be ganrec og niz ing that school li brar i ans shared an ed u ca tional role along side teach ers, and as such re quired for mal train ing. In 1887, Deweyes tab lished the first school for li brary sci ence at Co lum bia Uni ver sity in New York. Twenty stu dents were en rolled in its in au gu ral class. Af terWorld War II, more and more uni ver si ties be gan des ig nat ing sep a ratepro grams for li brary sci ence.

The first school li brary stan dards were de vel oped by the ALA andthe Na tional Ed u ca tion As so ci a tion (NEA) in 1920. The rules stip u latedthat li brar i ans have at least one year of ed u ca tion and one year ofpro fes sional train ing, and that each school li brary al lo cate at least sixbooks per stu dent. Sadly, the state of the school li brary re mained poor un til the 1950s. The ma jor ity of schools did not have their ownli brar ies, and those that did had poorly trained li brar i ans and smallbook col lec tions.

The 1960s saw a pe riod of tre men dous growth in school li brar ies,with new stan dards, in creased fed eral fund ing, and the Knapp SchoolLi braries Pro ject (which set up dem on stra tion li brar ies to showad min is tra tors how a school li brary should be run). In the fol low ingtwo de cades, the qual ity of school li brar ies im proved dra mat i cally.Schools be gan fo cus ing on the tech nol ogy boom, in te grat ing video,au dio, and com put ers into their li brar ies and trans form ing theirli brar i ans into trained me dia spe cial ists.

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THE WORK YOU WILL DO

The K-12 librarian To day’s school li brar i ans do far more thansim ply check books in and out. Their re spon si bil i ties are chal leng ing,and their roles var ied. Much of their time is de voted to help ingstu dents ac quire in for ma tion and sup port ing their ac a demicde vel op ment.

On a day-by-day ba sis, the school li brar ian meets with stu dents,ei ther as part of a class room group or in di vid u ally, helps themde ter mine what types of in for ma tion they need, guides them to thatin for ma tion, and then helps them use it most ef fec tively. To fos ter thestu dents’ love of read ing, li brar i ans set up story times for youn gerchil dren and lit er acy pro grams for more ad vanced stu dents.

Where the card cat a log was once the only tool at the li brar ian’sdis posal, tech nol ogy has now added a wide range of op tions, fromau dio and video to the Internet. Ex panded re sources mean thatli brar i ans must set up and main tain elec tronic da ta bases and cat a logs.They must also se lect age- and cur ric u lum-ap pro pri ate me dia andde ter mine how they can be used most ef fec tively by the stu dents.And, they are of ten charged with set ting up and over see ing theli brary’s website.

Al though the bulk of the li brar ian’s day is spent in the li brary, their role does not end within its four walls. The li brar ian must work closelywith other de part ments and fac ulty to en sure that all are work ingto ward a com mon goal. And, the li brar ian must of ten lead in theef forts to pro mote and raise money to fund on go ing and new li brarypro jects.

The University or Research LibrarianThe job de scrip tion of a uni ver sity or re search li brar ian, is some whatdif fer ent and of ten more spe cial ized than that of a grade- or highschool li brar ian. At the uni ver sity level, li brar i ans may work in thecir cu la tion area, check ing books in and out. In the ref er ence area, they help stu dents and fac ulty lo cate var i ous re sources. In tech ni calser vices, they or ga nize and main tain the li brary’s col lec tion.

Uni ver sity or re search li brar i ans may also be ex pected to pub lish in their field of study, give lec tures, teach courses or sem i nars, andsu per vise li brary as sis tants.

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THE PROFESSIONALS SPEAK

I Am a Li brar ian at an Ivy LeagueUni ver sity “In 1978, I grad u ated from the

Uni ver sity of Penn syl va nia with a mas ter’s de gree in his tory and acon cen tra tion in Mid dle East his tory. I am orig i nally from Iran, butbe cause of the rev o lu tion there, I de cided not to go back andbe gan look ing for a job in the United States. Teaching jobs werecom pet i tive at the time, so I took a part-time job in the Har vardUni ver sity li brary as a re searcher while I worked on my PhD.

Har vard needed my ex per tise in the Mid dle East. I be came anad vi sor to the Mid dle East ern li brar ian in Har vard’s Wid enerli brary. This was my first ex po sure to a li brary job and it gave me asec ond ca reer choice. I found that many peo ple with PhDs inso ci ol ogy, his tory, and other sub jects were work ing in the li brary.This opened a new door for me.

At that point, I ap plied to li brary school at Simmons Col lege in Boston. I fin ished my mas ter’s de gree pro gram there in two years.While at Simmons, I worked as an in tern at the North east ernUni ver sity li brary. Af ter I grad u ated with a mas ter’s de gree inin for ma tion sci ence, Har vard hired me as a se rial li brar ian work ingon for eign lan guages – Ger man, Span ish, Eng lish, and French.

In 1989, my wife was work ing in New York, and I de cided tomove to New Jer sey to join her. I was n’t sure where to ap ply for ajob, un til one day I was walk ing on the cam pus of Prince tonUni ver sity and I saw the beau ti ful foun tain and cen tral gar dens. Ithought it would be a good place for me to work for the rest ofmy ca reer. Luckily, they had an open ing. I have been at Prince tonsince 1990.

My ti tle is Li brar ian III, one of the high est ranks in the li brary.The job re quires very se ri ous re search. Part of my job is to pro cessbooks and cre ate re cords in the com puter. With my back ground, Ifo cus on for eign ma te ri als, es pe cially Arabic and Per sian. I en joykeep ing up with pub li ca tions from other coun tries.

The most in ter est ing part of my job is con trib ut ing to thename au thor ity files (NAF) for the Li brary of Con gress. These files

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con tain in for ma tion about au thors to be in cluded in re searchli brary da ta bases. When I get the pub li ca tion in hand, I re searchthe name and back ground of the au thor or cor po ra tion. When the name is es tab lished, it cre ates uni for mity in the da ta base. Ev erytime you use that au thor or cor po ra tion’s name, you know whatto search for. There are strict rules and reg u la tions on how tomain tain the en tries that all re search li brar ies have to fol low. I’mone of the few peo ple in the na tion who does this job for theLi brary of Con gress for Per sian ma te ri als, and Prince ton is the onlyin sti tu tion that pro vides this ser vice among re search li brar ies. Thetrain ing took a year-and-a-half. Now we have our own da ta base,called Voy ager, into which we cat a log, in put, and re searchin for ma tion about each book. This is down loaded into a uni formsys tem called Re search Li brary In te grated Net work (RLIN) for allre search li brar ies.

To day, pub lish ing com pa nies are pro vid ing much of there search in for ma tion I used to search for. They give you theau thor’s name, ti tle, place of pub li ca tion, date, and gen eralsub ject. I used to pro vide that in for ma tion to the user. I would also do re search to find out how many cop ies were pub lished and how many edi tions. I used to spend days some times find ing thatin for ma tion. I’m still do ing some of that, how ever, be causepub lish ing com pa nies in other coun tries aren’t as so phis ti cated asthey are in the United States. I search on the Web for most of thein for ma tion I need.

I’m not in the ref er ence de part ment, but some times whenstu dents and fac ulty can not find some thing they want me to helpthem. If I don’t find a book in our li brary, I can make a re quest and have it sent to me. I can also send out books any where in theUnited States. We share our books with mem bers of a li brarycon sor tium. Con sor tiums are re duc ing the need for trainedli brar i ans, but they are also short en ing the time we spend look ingfor books.

Some times we also do pro jects. Right now, I’m cat a log ing allse ri als pub lished in Iran, a valu able source for the 20th cen turyhis tory of Iran. I’m re stor ing in for ma tion that would be lost ifpeo ple like me did not in put it into the com puter. Some of thebooks go back 50 years or more. I have to in put the books one by

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one. Ev ery sin gle book gets an au thor and ti tle en try. Af ter I fin ishmy work, some one else will put it on the Web. It will be used byhis to ri ans look ing for in for ma tion about Iran – they will haveac cess to mag a zines, news pa pers, and books about this era. Ihope one day the text of these pub li ca tions will be added to thein for ma tion I’ve inputted.

Be cause I’m a his to rian, the re search is the most in ter est ingpart of my job. When ever some one sends me some thingun known, it’s a chal lenge. I spend hours solv ing puz zles. This islike de tec tive work. When I have a book with very lit tlein for ma tion, I have to go af ter all sorts of de tails. When I find out,it’s very sat is fy ing and grat i fy ing. I bring to life some thing thatwas dead.

In this pro fes sion to day, it’s very im por tant to know dif fer entda ta base sys tems. Re search li brar i ans must have good com puterskills. Ten years ago, can di dates would come to re search li brar ieswith no com puter back ground and the li brary would train them inwhich ever sys tem they were us ing. To day, the Web is tak ing overand re plac ing many of the things we used to do in ter nally. Youhave to be Web-ori ented and es tab lish your own search meth ods.Com puter skills are be com ing cru cial. Can di dates need to knowcom puter in dex ing, HTML, and other com puter skills. To day inli brary schools they have all sorts of com puter classes. When Iwent to col lege in the early 1980s, I think I had one com putercourse. A back ground in his tory or other sub ject area is stillim por tant, but it no lon ger takes pri or ity.”

I Am a Li brar ian at a Pri vate GradeSchool “I be gan my ca reer as a teacher, but

al though I loved work ing with chil dren, I did n’t re ally en joy be ingin the class room. One Sat ur day night, my hus band and I werehav ing din ner out with an other cou ple, and the woman was aschool li brar ian. She knew that I was un sure of where I wanted togo with my ca reer. She said, ‘You love chil dren and you lovebooks, so why don’t you get a li brary de gree.’ I re mem bered that I had al ways en vied the school li brar ian where I taught be cause Ihave such a love of lit er a ture, and I thought, ‘Why not?’

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On that Mon day, I called Case West ern Re serve Uni ver sity, and found out that reg is tra tion for their mas ter’s in li brary sci encepro gram was start ing the next day. So I reg is tered and grad u atedwith my de gree in 1975.

Af ter grad u a tion, I was un able to land a school li brar ian jobright away. But with my de gree I was able to get a job in a pub licli brary work ing as a chil dren’s li brar ian. It was a few years be fore Ilanded my first school li brar ian job, work ing at a pub lic gradeschool in Mas sa chu setts. I was sub sti tut ing for a li brar ian who was out on ma ter nity leave. When I got there, the li brary wascom pletely dis or ga nized. Over the year that I was there, I cleanedup the col lec tion, re moved out dated books and re placed themwith new ti tles. I also taught 24 classes a week. When the stu dents came to the li brary, I taught them how to ap pre ci ate lit er a ture. Ialso worked with the older chil dren to im prove their re searchskills.

Af ter a year, the woman I had re placed re turned and I lost myjob. I then worked as a sub sti tute teacher un til my daugh ter wasborn. When she started school, I re turned to work as a chil dren’sli brar ian in a pub lic li brary. I worked there for a year and liked it,how ever I al ways wanted to re turn to a school job. When thepub lic school li brar ian I had re placed sev eral years ear lier left, theschool of fered me the job and I re turned for an other year.

In 1999, I moved to Florida and be gan work ing in the li braryof a pri vate grade school, where I con tinue to work to day. I havehelped build the li brary from the ground up. In the past two years, we’ve in creased our col lec tion from 2,400 vol umes to 5,400vol umes, and we’ll ul ti mately have be tween 8,000 and 9,000books. I use li brary re view jour nals to look for new in ven tory, and I rely on rec om men da tions from par ents and stu dents.

I teach 12 classes a week and read sto ries to the chil dren.Now that we have the Internet at our dis posal, my job is not justabout teach ing chil dren how to search through book stacks andcard cat a logs. Now I teach the chil dren how to search acom put er ized da ta base to find what they need. It used to be thatthree-quar ters of a li brar ian’s job in volved check ing books in andout. It was hard to keep track of who had what book. Now ev erybook has a bar code and ev ery child has a bar code, so I can get

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them all checked out quickly and spend more time do ing otherthings.

I think the big gest part of my re spon si bil ity is turn ing kids onto read ing. For the youn ger kids, that means do ing reg u lar booktalks and teach ing them how to use the li brary. I re quire the olderchil dren, the fourth and fifth grad ers, to read sev eral books a yearin de pend ently. I am also us ing a com put er ized pro gram in whichchil dren read a book on their own and then take a quiz. Thechil dren earn points for ev ery quiz they pass, and I give out prizes.I have kids eat ing up books try ing to get these points. Al mostev ery school has brought in one of these pro grams – they havebe come an in te gral part of a li brar ian’s job.

My fa vor ite part of my job is work ing with chil dren – they’refresh and they’re en thu si as tic. I also en joy work ing with themoth ers who vol un teer at the li brary. The as pect of my job I likethe least are the ad di tional school-re lated re spon si bil i ties. I dreadhav ing to do caf e te ria and play ground duty. How ever, this in volves only about five per cent of my time.”

I Am a Li brar ian at a Pub licSub ur ban High School “This is ac tu ally my third

ca reer. I had worked in ad min is tra tion at a so cial ser vice agencyfor a num ber of years and had risen through the ranks to be comethe in terim ex ec u tive di rec tor. When it came time to be con sid ered as the per ma nent ex ec u tive di rec tor, I de cided to do some thingelse with my life. Since I was cer ti fied as an Eng lish teacher, Ide cided to teach. I be gan work ing at Co lum bia High School as anEng lish teacher. Once I dis cov ered their li brary, I be gan spend ing a great deal of time there. While I was there it sud denly dawnedupon me that this is a great line of work to be in. I ap plied to andwas ac cepted to li brary school at Rutgers Uni ver sity, and I leftCo lum bia High School to get my mas ter’s de gree in Li brarySci ence Studies (MLS) at Rutgers. In the course of do ing my MLS,Rutgers re quired that I do a field place ment. Co lum bia HighSchool came to mind as the per fect place. I called and waswel comed back, and I con tin ued work ing there as a part-timeli brar ian af ter the field place ment se mes ter ended.

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I then ap plied to the PhD pro gram at Rutgers’ Grad u ateSchool of Arts and Sci ences, and spent one year there as afull-time stu dent work ing on my doc tor ate. Through the PhDpro gram, I was able to com bine li brar i an ship and my back groundin lit er a ture. But I de cided af ter a year that I needed to get a jobbe cause I had n’t re ally worked in the field.

In 1993, I went to work at Montclair Kimberley Acad emy astheir mid dle school li brar ian. I was pur chas ing books, pro cess ingand cat a log ing books, and work ing with classes on re search skills.My job was to make stu dents more ef fec tive find ers, seek ers, andus ers of in for ma tion. When classes came to the li brary, I wouldhelp them iden tify the kinds of in for ma tion they needed, fig ureout where they could get that in for ma tion, and once they hadfound it, helped them learn how to syn the size, sum ma rize, andeval u ate the in for ma tion to know if it was what they needed. Icol lab o rated with teach ers in de vel op ing as sign ments that wouldim prove skills.

I also had ad min is tra tive tasks – pro cess ing books, cat a log ingbooks, de vel op ing the col lec tion to sup port the school’scur ric u lum. In ad di tion to class room in struc tion, classes wouldcome in for book talks. Through these talks, we en cour age kids tobe life long read ers. The chal lenge is to pro vide fic tion, par tic u larly, and even non fic tion that hold a teen ager’s at ten tion and piquetheir in ter est. We want to have ma te ri als on hand that we thinkkids are go ing to want to read and that are on their read ing level.

My aim was still to go back to Co lum bia if there ever was anopen ing. An open ing did come up. I ap plied for that job and gotit, and I have been work ing as their li brar ian for three years. Partof my job in cludes class in struc tion, since classes are brought in by their teach ers to do cer tain kinds of re search. Classes are alsobrought in for book talks. There are also kids who visit the li brarybut are not at tached to a class, but who have a free pe riod, sothere is in di vid u al ized stu dent as sis tance. And there is back-roomwork – cat a log ing and shelv ing new books as they come in. Andwork ing with par ent and stu dent vol un teers so that they can beef fec tive in help ing us.

Last year, I re ceived my PhD from Rutgers.

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One of the great things about my work is that it’s dif fer entev ery day. The ac tiv i ties are var ied – it’s not just do ing one thingover and over. One of the rea sons I wanted to move to a largehigh school was to work with a di verse stu dent pop u la tion thatpro vides chal lenges I did n’t have at a pri vate mid dle school. It’s an en rich ing ex pe ri ence be cause I get to see peo ple from places suchas Haiti, Ni ge ria, Ghana and Brazil.

School li brar i ans are es sen tially teach ers. We’re grap pling with the same kinds of is sues that other teach ers in high school have:kids who don’t like to read or who are poor read ers, kids who arepoorly pre pared ac a dem i cally; kids who come from for eigncoun tries whose first lan guage is not Eng lish.

Where li brar i ans were once pro cess ing books and get tingthem into the kids’ hands, that role has changed so now we’re not only deal ing with print ma te ri als but with elec tronic re sources. We have a num ber of com put ers in the li brary, in a li brary com puterlab and on the floor. They all pro vide ac cess to the Internet, as well as word pro cess ing soft ware and the cat a log. We also havere search da ta bases like full text mag a zine ar ti cles and on lineen cy clo pe dias and ge og ra phy pro grams. These are won der fultools. So now we’re faced with de ter min ing what kinds ofelec tronic ma te ri als and re sources we should have in the li brary,how ac ces si ble they should be, and what age group they shouldbe geared to.

Where once the li brary was a place with walls where youcould use books or check them out, now you can be at home onthe Internet and you don’t even have to go to the li brary. Sowhat’s the use of the li brary, you might say? It be comes clearer tome that folks who think they can just browse through the Internetand get what they want may need an in ter me di ary to help themfind what they’re look ing for. I think the more in for ma tion sources you have, the more there’s a need for a li brar ian – some one whoun der stands in for ma tion, how it’s or ga nized, and how to helppeo ple better uti lize it.

To keep up with tech nol ogy changes, I read and I go towork shops and sem i nars. The pro fes sional de vel op ment as pect ofmy job is very im por tant.”

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WHERE YOU WILL WORK

Public or private grade schools, middle schools, or high schoolsCommunity collegesLiberal arts collegesResearch universities

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

GRADE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL LI BRAR I ANS NEED MANY OF THE SAME SKILLSas teach ers, in clud ing pa tience and per sis tence. They ab so lutely mustlove chil dren. Part of the school li brar ian’s goal is to un der stand howchil dren de velop and learn, and to ac com mo date their growththrough spe cially de signed pro grams. Al though dis ci pline is not alarge part of the li brar ian’s job, he/she must be able to work with awide range of at ti tudes and per son al i ties. An other im por tant skill,es pe cially for those who are go ing to work in a grade school, is anex pres sive voice to bring the lit er a ture alive dur ing book read ings.

To work at the uni ver sity level re quires ef fec tive prob lem-solv ingskills, es pe cially in a re search li brary. Hav ing a spe cialty in his tory,lan guages, sci ence, or an other sub ject area is help ful, es pe cially in jobs that in volve the cat a log ing and clas si fy ing of for eign ma te ri als.

While li brar i ans don’t need to be mas ters of com puter tech nol ogy, they do need to know the ba sics of Internet re search and to be able to find their way around a da ta base, es pe cially if they are go ing to workin a uni ver sity re search li brary. More and more of these li brar ies arealso look ing for em ploy ees with more so phis ti cated Internet skills, forex am ple HTML and Web de sign, so that they can cre ate and main tainli brary da ta bases and websites.

This is not an es pe cially good ca reer choice for some one who ispro ject ori ented. Most li brar i ans don’t com plete one job fromstart-to-fin ish, but in stead em bark on a num ber of long-term pro jects(like up dat ing the col lec tion) that are al ways on go ing.

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ATTRACTIVE FEATURES

MANY LI BRAR I ANS SAY THEY CHOSE TO WORK IN A SCHOOL EN VI RON MENT FORthe sheer joy of work ing with stu dents. Li brar ians have the sat is fac tion of know ing that they en rich their stu dents’ learn ing ex pe ri ence anden hance their ed u ca tion. That ed u ca tional en rich ment con tin uesthrough col lab o ra tive ef forts with teach ers and other fac ultymem bers.

For those who love to read, an added bo nus is get ting to spendeach day sur rounded by books. Li brar ians also get a sneak peak at new ti tles, be cause they or der books di rectly from the pub lisher and are the first to open them when they ar rive.

A li brar ian’s day is never dull. It is filled with new ques tions toan swer and new chal lenges to solve. Pro jects are ever-evolv ing,chang ing as new tech nol o gies emerge or turn ing in a new di rec tion as the li brary shifts its fo cus. At the same time, the work is ex tremelyor ga nized. Many li brar i ans love to see the pieces of a puz zle fall intoplace as they solve a prob lem or make or der out of chaos.

Li brar i an ship of fers the ben e fit of a flex i ble sched ule. Most gradeschool and high school li brar i ans get the sum mers off, and workab bre vi ated days (7 a.m. to 3 p.m., for ex am ple). Li brar ians who havefam i lies can also take ad van tage of part-time sched ules. Manyac a demic li brar ies are open on eve nings and week ends, al low ing formore flex i ble sched ul ing, as well.

Ge og ra phy is also flex i ble, be cause nearly ev ery city and town, has at least one school. So li brar i ans have the op tion of choos ing fromjobs in vir tu ally any part of the coun try.

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UNATTRACTIVE FEATURES

LI BRAR IANS SPEND MUCH OF THEIR DAYS AT THEIR DESK OR IN FRONT OF Acom puter ter mi nal, which can be come bor ing, re pet i tive, anddown right un com fort able. When they do get up, they may be on their feet for hours, lift ing heavy books or sift ing end lessly through thestacks.

As sisting stu dents can be chal leng ing, re gard less of the agegroup. When deal ing with youn ger chil dren, li brar i ans must beequipped to han dle dis ci plin ary prob lems and to give stu dents wholack in ter est a gen tle prod in the right di rec tion. At the high schooland col lege lev els, li brar i ans must con tend with tight dead lines, asstu dents and ac a dem ics rush to com plete re search pro jects within amat ter of days or even hours.

Al though grade and high school li brar i ans get the sum mers off,many col lege li brar i ans must work through the sum mers, and manyeven work nights, week ends, and some hol i days.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

ANY BACH E LOR’S DE GREE (BA OR BS) IN THE LIB ERAL ARTS WILL SERVE AS A GOODfoun da tion for a school li brar ian. A bach e lor’s de gree alone is enoughfor a job as a li brary tech ni cian or as sis tant, but a full li brar ian po si tion re quires a Mas ter of Li brary Sci ence de gree (MLS). This de gree mayalso be re ferred to as Mas ter of Li brar i an ship (ML), Mas ter of Li braryand In for ma tion Sci ence (MLIS), or Mas ter of Sci ence (MS). Manyschool li brar ies will also ac cept ap pli cants who have a mas ter’s de greein ed u ca tion with a spe cialty in school li brar i an ship or ed u ca tionalme dia from a pro gram ac cred ited by the Na tional Coun cil for theAc cred i ta tion of Teacher Ed u ca tion (NCATE). A num ber of col legesof fer MLS pro grams, but em ploy ers pre fer ap pli cants with a de greefrom one of the 56 schools ac cred ited by the Amer i can Li braryAs so ci a tion. Most MLS pro grams take about a year to com plete, butsome are stretched out over two years.

Course work in cludes the ba sics of in for ma tion sci ence, a his toryof books and print ing, the is sues of lit er ary free dom and cen sor ship.Stu dents also learn col lec tion de vel op ment, in for ma tion the ory,ref er ence tech niques, and li brary man age ment. Tech ni cal train ing,cov er ing such top ics as Internet search ing and da ta base tools, hasbe come an in te gral part of nearly ev ery de gree pro gram.

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To work in most states, school li brar i ans must have a teach ingcer tif i cate. To keep that cer tif i cate up-to-date, li brar i ans are re quiredto at tend a min i mum of 100 hours of con tin u ing ed u ca tion ev ery fiveyears.

These are some of the top grad u ate pro grams in li brary sci ence:

Drexel Uni ver sity http://www.cis.drexel.edu/

Florida State Uni ver sityhttp://www.lis.fsu.edu/

In di ana Uni ver sityhttp://www.slis.in di ana.edu/

Kent State Uni ver sityhttp://web.slis.kent.edu/

Lou i si ana State Uni ver sityhttp://slis.lsu.edu/

Pratt In sti tutehttp://www.pratt.edu/sils/

Rutgers Uni ver sityhttp://www.scils.rutgers.edu/

Simmons Col legehttp://www.simmons.edu/pro grams/gslis/

Texas Women’s Uni ver sityhttp://www.twu.edu/cope/slis/

Uni ver sity of Al a bamahttp://www.slis.ua.edu

Uni ver sity of Ar i zonahttp://www.sir.ar i zona.edu

Uni ver sity of Cal i for nia, Los An geleshttp://is.gseis.ucla.edu/

Uni ver sity of Il li nois at Ur bana-Cham paignhttp://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/

Uni ver sity of Iowahttp://www.uiowa.edu/~libsci/

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Uni ver sity of Ken tuckyhttp://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/SLIS/

Uni ver sity of Mary landhttp://www.clis.umd.edu/

Uni ver sity of Mich i ganhttp://www.si.umich.edu/

Uni ver sity of Mis souri-Co lum biahttp://ti ger.coe.mis souri.edu/~sislt/

Uni ver sity of North Carolina at Cha pel Hillhttp://www.ils.unc.edu/

Uni ver sity of North Texashttp://www.unt.edu/slis/

Uni ver sity of Pitts burghhttp://www2.sis.pitt.edu/

Uni ver sity of Ten nes seehttp://www.sis.utk.edu/

Uni ver sity of To rontohttp://www.fis.utoronto.ca/in dex_MSIE.htm

The Amer i can Li brary As so ci a tion of fers a com plete Di rec tory ofAc credited Li brary and In for ma tion Sci ence Pro grams on its websitehttp://www.ala.org/alaorg/oa/lisdir.html.

Many schools, in clud ing Drexel Uni ver sity, Florida State Uni ver sity,and the Uni ver sity of Mis souri, have added dis tance learn ing andon line li brary sci ence de gree pro grams. This is a plus for stu dents whopre fer not to com mute or who are cur rently work ing in an otherpro fes sion.

Many col lege li brar i ans have a PhD in his tory, sci ence, lan guages,or an other ac a demic sub ject area. Some will be ex pected to con tinuetheir ed u ca tion, pub lish in their field, and/or en gage in re latedre search pro jects.

As with any pro fes sion, real world ex pe ri ence gives li brary sci encestu dents an ad van tage in their field. In tern ship pro grams al lowstu dents to gain prac ti cal knowl edge in a real li brary and to ap plywhat they’ve learned in school. In tern ships also arm stu dents withvalu able con tacts in the in dus try.

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EARNINGS

LI BRARY SAL A RIES WILL VARY BASED ON THE TYPE AND SIZE OF THE SCHOOL, ASwell as the ap pli cant’s ed u ca tion and ex pe ri ence. Half of all li brar i ansearn be tween $35,000 and $55,000 a year.

El e men tary and sec ond ary school li brar i ans earn an av er age of$45,000, and col lege and uni ver sity li brar i ans make about the same.At the low end of the scale, re cent grad u ates can ex pect to earn about $25,000 with a mas ter’s de gree. The high est-paid li brar i ans can earnup wards of $60,000 a year. Tech no logically-ex pert li brar i ans earn thehigh est sal a ries, while more tra di tional school and ac a demic uni ver sityli brar i ans fall within the lower sal ary range.

OPPORTUNITIES

THE TIME HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER FOR BE GIN NING SCHOOL LI BRAR I ANS TO EN TERthe field. The li brary jour nals re port on a tre men dous short age ofqual i fied school li brar i ans as baby boom ers reach re tire ment age. Over the past few years, many schools have cut their li brary sci ence de greepro grams, which means that fewer grad u ates are avail able to re placethe re tir ees. In re sponse to the short age, many states have loos enedtheir re quire ments and ex pe dited the cer tif i ca tion pro cess toen cour age new ap pli cants. Some states al low pub lic li brar i ans andother col lege grad u ates to work in school li brar ies with outcer tif i ca tion. Oth ers no lon ger re quire their li brar i ans to have a col legede gree.

As bud gets tighten and tech nol ogy im proves, many schoolli brar ies have cut down or even elim i nated li brar ian po si tions. Li brar ian jobs are ex pected to grow more slowly than usual in the com ingde cade. Part of this slow-down has to do with the in creas ing use ofcom put ers to cat a log and re trieve in for ma tion. Many us ers can ac cessthe li brary via the Internet from home, with out ever hav ing to stepfoot in their school li brary or in ter act with the li brar ian. As bud getstighten, li brar ian po si tions are of ten the first to be let go, es pe cially instates that don’t re quire school li brar i ans.

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That means fewer li brar ian po si tions and more re spon si bil i ties forthose few in di vid u als who re main on staff. In many states, schoolli brar i ans are be ing asked to per form dou ble duty as au dio-vi sualco or di na tors, shut tling pro jec tors and mon i tors from class room toclass room. Where bud gets are con cerned, pri vate schools tend to of fer more job se cu rity, be cause the stu dents pay a stan dard tu i tion and the schools are not forced to rely on tax payer dol lars for fund ing.

Grad u ate stu dents who spe cial ize in school li brar i an ship find thatthey have greater op por tu ni ties than stu dents who fo cus on a pub licli brary ca reer. With an MLS de gree, there is a wide range of ca reerop tions avail able out side of the school en vi ron ment. Trained schoolli brar i ans can work as ar chi vists at mu se ums, com puter in for ma tionsci en tists, even teach ers. And, they can also work in pub lic li brar ies.

GETTING STARTED

BE FORE DECIDING ON A SCHOOL LIBRARIAN CA REER PATH, SPEND SOME TIMEwork ing in a lo cal school or pub lic li brary to make sure you en joy thework. With a high school de gree, you can get a job as a li brar ian’saide, check ing books in and out, shelv ing books and as sist ing withcler i cal tasks. In a uni ver sity li brary, you may be asked to help withsim ple searches or to in put in for ma tion into a da ta base.

As you be gin look ing for your first paid po si tion, think about what type of op por tu nity most in ter ests you. Do you pre fer to work withvery young chil dren in a grade school set ting, would you feel morecom fort able with older high school stu dents, or would you ratherwork with col lege-level stu dents and pro fes sors? If you’re con sid er inga grade school or high school li brary, would you pre fer a pri vateschool or a pub lic school en vi ron ment?

Lo ca tion is also an im por tant fac tor in your de ci sion. You may face greater com pe ti tion in cit ies or sub ur ban ar eas than you would inmore ru ral lo ca tions. You can in crease your odds of find ing a job bycon sid er ing non tra di tional schools, for ex am ple pa ro chial or spe cialed u ca tion pro grams.

Once you have picked a geo graphic lo ca tion and a cou ple ofschools to pur sue, meet with the prin ci pals or col lege ad min is tra torsto get an idea of their phi los o phy. Do they value the school li brary, and will they be will ing to sup port your ini tia tives? Do they have a his toryof cut ting the li brary bud get?

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The first place to look for work is your grad u ate school’splace ment of fice. Many schools of fer job place ment, but all will atleast have job boards and be able to guide you in the right di rec tion.Li brary jour nals (such as the School Li brary Jour nal and Amer i canLi brary As so ci a tion) and websites also in clude ex ten sive job list ingsand job hot lines in var i ous states.

The Amer i can Li brary As so ci a tion of fers a com pre hen sive da ta base for job seek ers in the United States and Can ada:

http://www.ala.org/acrl/new00ads/new00ads.html

ASSOCIATIONS

nAmer i can As so ci a tion of School Li brar ianshttp://www.ala.org/aasl/

nAmer i can Li brary As so ci a tion (ALA)http://www.ala.org

nAmer i can So ci ety for In for ma tion Sci ence and Tech nol ogyhttp://www.asis.org/

nAs so ci a tion for Li brary and In for ma tion and Sci enceEd u ca tion (ALISE)http://www.alise.org/

nAs so ci a tion of Col lege & Re search Li brarieshttp://www.ala.org/acrl/

nAs so ci a tion of Re search Li brarieshttp://www.arl.org/

n In ter na tional As so ci a tion of School Li brar i an shiphttp://www.iasl-slo.org/

nLi brary & In for ma tion Tech nol ogy As so ci a tionhttp://www.lita.org/

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PERIODICALS

n Jour nal of Ed u ca tion for Li brary and In for ma tion Sci ence(JELIS)http://www.alise.org/pub li ca tions/jellis.shtml

nLi brary Jour nalhttp://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/in dex.asp?pub li ca tion=libraryjournal

nSchool Li brary Jour nalhttp://slj.reviewsnews.com/

nSchool Li brary Me dia Re searchhttp://www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/

WEBSITES

nFifty States’ Cer tif i ca tion Re quire mentshttp://www.uky.edu/Ed u ca tion/TEP/usacert.html

nLi brar ians’ Re source Cen terhttp://www.sla.org/chap ter/ctor/tool bx/re source/in dex.html

COPYRIGHT 2007 In sti tute For Ca reer Re search CHICAGOCAREERS INTERNET DATABASE www.ca reers-internet.org

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