If even the Papacy is a job one can ‘resign’ from, what hope is there for the idea of vocation? by Brendan O’Neill questions the premise of being able to resign from a ‘vocation’ and has stirred dedicated librarians with this quote:

“The news that the Pope has resigned sends out a powerful and probably unwitting message – that the Papacy is just a job, like being a bank manager or librarian.”

He follows this up with a definition of vocation - “…a calling, or at least a vocation; something one feels summoned to do and more importantly to be.”

There are librarians who definitely fit the description of job, but there are many more I would argue that have some form of vocation or calling. Some come to it early, some later in life after exploring other realms, but wherever we end up, many of us will be a librarian until the end – whatever our job position.

I wanted to be a librarian since Grade 6 and went straight through and achieved that. I have been working as a librarian for 27 years and my librarianship continues beyond the workplace. I am a librarian 24/7, because it’s also who I am beyond the job. And I don’t do it for the money because there is no money in librarianship. If this is not a vocation or a calling, then what is?

Do you agree? Is your librarianship a calling, or just a job until you get to do what you really want to do in life? Does it hold true for the majority of librarians (including a good range of shambrarians) or is it just a select few?

It is interesting reading for the future of the profession in the US and an idea of what may happen here, but what is more interesting is the Emerging Jobs/New Titles  that new graduates are gaining.

Some of the more interesting new titles include:

• Emerging technologies librarian
• Data assets manager
• Digital initiatives librarian
• Digital curator
• Repository librarian
• Market insights analyst
• Impact evaluation specialist

Interestingly, many of our jobs will have these things in our job descriptions, but not in our job titles.

If you have a job title that you think is as intriguing as these, let us know what it is.  And if you don’t and wish you did, what would you like it to be?

Me, I like the idea of Digital Branch Manager…..  

You can share a day, days or your whole librarian week, through blogging, tweeting, pictures, video or however else you are inspired.

To participate, register at the Library Day in the Life wiki and then record your (choose time period) in the life of you as a librarian, for others to discover the joys of how varied work as a librarian is, both here and around the world.

Then watch the same wiki, to learn about what other librarians around the world do in their respective jobs. It is very inspirational!

On Monday 24th January 2011:

“Any one who works in a library can participate. You may share your day (or week) on your blog, Twitter, Flickr and/or YouTube (or any other way you choose. If you have none of these don’t worry, just create a new page in the wiki and post your day there.” (Library Day in the Life Wiki)

To participate, register your details at the Library Day in the Life wiki and on the day, keep details – in whatever form you have chosen – of what you do that day.  You can check out previous rounds to see what people have done, but feel free to come up with your own way of sharing your day.

You need a PB Wiki account to register, but this is free and doesn’t take long.

So come and join me and other librarians from around the world and see what we all do for our chosen profession.

To recap, the Library Day in the Life Project aims to document a day (or week) in the working life of a librarian.  In previous rounds, this has taken the form of blog posts, twitters, photos and video.  No restrictions are placed on how a librarian’s day is documented.

It is the inspiration of Bobbi L Newman, who blogs as Librarian by Day. The Library Day in the Life wiki tracks who is planning to participate in the project, as well as links to the end results of the documentation.  It is quite interesting to check out how librarians from around the world, spend their day in library world.

If you are interested in participating, input your details into the Library Day in the Life wiki  and from Monday 25th January, get to it!

If you would like to know more about how the project came about, get it straight from Bobbi in her post – Library Day in the Life Round 4, January 2010.  Of even more interest, you can go to the Library Day in the Life wiki and check out librarians’ contributions from the previous 3 rounds, to find out what its all about.

There have been a few Aussie librarians participating in the past and hopefully will be again this year.  So why not join in the fun and learn something about yourself and your colleagues worldwide.

So, my take will be what I didn’t realise I’d be working on when I graduated as a librarian.  Also, five is just a number picked out of the air.  When we ask for your feedback (because we are curious and want to know more about you – only fair after we open ourselves up to you ), don’t feel obliged to share five – anywhere between 1 and 50 things will be fine.

So the 5 things I didn’t realise I would be working on when I graduated as a librarian are:

1. PCs. I had never seen a PC, let alone known much about them before I started my first job as a librarian.  My workplace had an Apple IIC and an Apple IIe and I was stunned and excited.  Within 6 months, I was the local expert on those machines (and managed to become so without breaking anything).  Now, I can’t imagine being a librarian (or me in any sense really), without one.
2. The Internet. Yes, the Internet existed when I graduated.  After all, its been around since the 1960s – which is when I was born!  Never could imagine how important and useful and painful and exciting and challenging it would make being a librarian when I graduated.  Couldn’t live without it now.  Get withdrawals sometimes if I’m away from it too long, but thats another story.
3. Creating websites. Kind of goes hand-in-hand with the internet, but even as far back as 1996 when I created our first library website with HTML, I couldn’t imagine how website creation would change.  In coming weeks, we will be launching our new library website, using the Drupal open-source content management system.  Its been a huge learning curve, full of frustration, as well as great joy and triumphs.  I can’t wait to continue developing it further over the coming year.
4. Public libraries.  This is more of an ‘in’ than an ‘on’.  When I was studying library science, I always imagined working in a school library or special library as I thought that these libraries would give me the variety I thought I wanted to make me a happy librarian.  The first job I got was in a public library – and that was from a reluctant and not great application letter.  And 23 years later, I am still extremely happy and satisfied working in public libraries.  Something to be said for serendipity……
5. The same organisation.  This is more of a ‘for’ than an ‘on’.  I started work with Dandenong Valley Regional Library Corporation at the end of 1985. The library service split in two as a result of the Council amalgamations of 1995 and one half became Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation – my current employer.  In those 23 years, I have had 8 1/2 different jobs, worked full-time for many years and now part-time for nearly as many and have enjoyed it immensely.  Never thought I would stay in one job for more than 5 years,  let along remaining with one organisation long enough to accrue two lots of long service leave!

So that’s my quick list of how my expectations of being a librarian have changed very dramatically since graduating.  Its all been very positive for me.  It may not or may not have been similar for you.

What has changed for you since you graduated?  We would love to hear your stories, whether that time period is one year or 40+.  Libraries are changing all the time and so are our expectations and experiences.  Please take the time and share yours with us here.

Today’s topic is the global financial crisis and libraries. Please add your thoughts on this by commenting below.

The current global financial crisis is easily the biggest economic upheaval since librarians have been blogging. Library bloggers in North America have started talking about this subject – usually referring to it as the recession – but in the tradition of Libraries Interact, we want know what’s happening in Australia.

• How is the global financial crisis (GFC) impacting on your library? Does 2009 threaten budget cuts or even redundancies?
• Are there any library sectors which seem more vulnerable than others to the economic downturn? Are there sectors which are more busy or stressed? Are there any libraries which thrive in recession conditions?
• How do these changes seem to be affecting the library job market?
• Does the current downturn make it easier or more difficult to implement new technologies in libraries? Or does it have no effect whatsoever?

If you are not a library manager, check if your manager or director knows about this survey. More information is available from the ALIA Board Blog.

Quoting the Librarian: Executive Summary: “Forget about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm. Librarians these days must be high-tech information sleuths, helping researchers plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records. It’s an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons dig up information and, in the process, learning new things. Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They even get to put on performances, like children’s puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. On top of it all, librarians’ work hours are reasonable.”

There’s a little more info and some interesting links to other resources including courses and pay scales and a small feature on special librarianship.

So we know its a great career, interesting to see how others outside the profession see it.

What do you think?

How?
Simple. Design a postcard promoting careers in libraries. That sounds easy. What sort of postcard?
We need a card that’s a bit like an avant card – those free advertising postcards you see everywhere. They have pictures and information on both the back and front, sized about 10 cm by 15 cm, colourful and eye-catching. You can see what these kinds of cards look like at Avant Card.

What should it say?
You just design the front of the postcard with the wording “Destination Library” and a great picture. The back of the card will say: “For information about working in libraries- Go to: http://destinationlibrary.pbwiki.com/”

What’s it going to be used for?
The winning card is going to be distributed across Australia to let people know about the desinationlibary site to showcase the great careers in the library industry.
That’s all you need to know. You can use Photoshop, Illustrator, Gimp, Quark, Word, any software- just make sure you save the format as a JPEG.
Oh, and copyright of your designed front cover will belong to ALIA so that we may use the whole or part of this image in a variety of print and online media. So if you do use images from the web, make sure they’re copyright clear.

Who can enter?
Anyone. You don’t have to be working in the library industry. We are looking for entries from anyone with creative ideas for our card.

Where do I send my entry?
Email it as a JPEG attachment by Monday January the 28th, 2008 to: IKurzeme <at> slv <dot> vic <dot> gov <dot> au
The winner will be contacted by email.
And if I need to know more?
Any questions: Email Indra at
IKurzeme <at> slv <dot> vic <dot> gov <dot> au

or

Chris at chriske<at>brimbank<dot>vic<dot>gov<dot>au

Best of luck!

Reproduced with (minor edits) and permission from:

Chris Kelly
Manager Libraries & Learning
Brimbank City Council