A lot of people complain that they were misled by the predictions of a “wave of retirements” into thinking that it would be easy to get a job as a librarian. I think this might be more prevalent among those for whom librarianship is a second or third career, but it’s easy to grumble, even when being a librarian is the only thing you’ve ever wanted to me (as is the case with myself). Librarianship as your first career is not easy either, but that’s a story for another day.
I don’t think the current Occupational Outlook is all that sunny. Note especially “recent increases in enrollments in MLS programs will prepare a sufficient number of new librarians to fill these positions.” I know that a few years ago the outlook from the BLS and the ALA was that there would be far more retirees than new graduates, but I never looked at those statistics as a starry eyed junior in college looking for graduate programs.
I got to thinking about this because I’ve seen a number of postings for library directors or equivalent positions lately. That link to the Metropolitan Library System job board, as of this writing, has 4 postings for library directors out of 8 listings. There is also 1 for a department head, 1 for a temporary academic librarian, and 2 for non-degree positions. Based purely on this anecdotal evidence, it seems like there are plenty of people retiring. The next step in the grumbling (and in the Occupational Outlook) is that the positions being vacated will be filled by people without MLS degrees. That may be so, but with the job market so tight right now, plenty of people with degrees are applying for those positions that don’t require the MLS degree. In some cases, there are policies against ever hiring someone with an MLS for a non-MLS job, but I think in many cases the library is perfectly happy to get someone with more educational training (assuming they have on-the-job training as well) for a lower price. Again, this is based on purely anecdotal evidence. I could do a literature search, but it’s too hot right now. (Thanks pizza oven in the library!)
In the end, even though it’s a pain to find a job right now, I think it’s a good time to be getting experience in the profession right now to think about those upper management positions (which presumably will always favor degree holders) in the future. As with academia, the leadership gap may be the real issue facing libraries and librarians. We’ll see.