Oh, The Places You’ll Go

The image of librarians is changing as rapidly as library science due to changes in technology and era. No more is the buttoned down, stern faced, tight bunned woman the image of librarians. Tech savvy individuals with library science degrees are bringing the modern world and various styles into their studies as library science majors. Aside from librarians, there are many different career paths you can take when you have completed a library science degree.

You can continue your studies further to do online masters degree and doctoral level degrees in library science and you can branch out into other fields such as law.

Library Technician/Media Aide

Library technicians are the likely the first people you will meet when you need help in a library. These individuals work under a librarian’s supervision at times and independently at others. The technological training they receive during their studies for the library science degree enables them to use the rapidly changing library software in conjunction with traditional library tools to assist patrons in their search for information.

In larger libraries, library techs often take on some of the work of the librarians such as circulation desk tasks, patron information searches and cataloguing. They also perform technically based tasks such as database and equipment maintenance, media center equipment handling and instructing patrons on their use. If there is a book mobile in your area, you can almost guarantee that the driver is a library technician.

Librarian

The position of librarian focuses more on the traditional knowledge and usage of the library during the course of the studies in a library science degree. They are trained on the various paper cataloguing systems, computer cataloguing software and the tasks routinely performed in library organization and use.

Librarians are benefiting from training and usage of old and new systems so they are able to work anywhere in the country or in the world. In addition to library functions and tasks, librarians have knowledge of reference information and various scholarly publications which are a great service to the library user community.

Librarians perform various user services, instructional and technical services but a large part of their focus is administration. They work to keep the library organized by handling the overall management and planning aspects.

Additional career choices for someone with a library science degree are:

  • Indexing
  • Information Architecture
  • Law Librarianship
  • Medical Librarianship
  • Music Librarianship
  • Public Librarianship
  • Reference and User Services
  • Archivist
  • School Librarian
  • Library Manager
  • Library Director
  • Library Dean
  • Administration
  • Banking
  • Public Relations
  • Counseling
  • Government work
  • Meeting planning
  • Teaching
  • Non profit management
  • Law