Library career prospects with lots of experience but no degree

April 28, 2024 1:37 PM

Librarians of Mefi, your attention please: what would you think of a resume that has ~10 years of public library reference desk experience, but no MLS?

I'm not looking to leave my job, but I'd like to firm up a reasonable Plan B.

I've been working for a rural public library system in Oregon. Despite not having a library science master's (my only degree is a bachelor's in journalism acquired a little under 20 years ago), I got my foot in the door working part time in the circulation department and managed to get promoted to the full-time reference desk staff in 2015. Since then I've contributed to collection development, assisted thousands of patrons with research, created and hosted many events and book clubs (including being in charge of an annual one-day comic con for five straight years!), de-escalated dangerous situations with violent patrons... you get the idea.

I consider myself extraordinarily lucky to be in this position, and would be delighted to make librarianship my Career™ for as long as I can. I don't really have the executive function or finances to go to grad school (especially while also being fulltime employed), but I can't shake the uncertainty: would I have a hard time getting another library job with only the experience and not the degree?

(This is largely driven by anxiety related to having a plan if my family had to move, for what it's worth. I definitely live in the much-more-culturally-Idaho half of Oregon and it makes me nervous.)

posted by The demon that lives in the air to Education (6 answers total)

I think it very much depends where you are looking at moving. Where I am in Canada, my rural system and others seem to be very open to a variety of credentials outside an MLIS or Library Technology diploma for front-line or coordinator positions. For managers and directors and MLIS is more of a requirement. It seems urban systems are more inclined to make a Library Tech diploma a firm requirement for anything beyond a page. But I don’t know what it’s like in the US, or if it varies from state to state.

If you do want to get an MLIS, it looks like there are plenty of ALA accredited programs with an online option https://www.ala.org/educationcareers/accreditedprograms

If you do wind up moving, and you know where you want to wind up, it might be worth just dropping into a system and talking to someone. I know most places don’t take unsolicited resumes, but a conversation about where you’re from and your experience might mean that when an opportunity does come up, they don’t just sort your application based on your credentials.
posted by eekernohan at 2:04 PM on April 28 [1 favorite]

In my area (suburbs of a very large, major midwestern city) you would be able to get an assistant or associate position—lower pay but roughly the same general responsibilities as a librarian, but probably no collection development/cataloguing. Every librarian position in this area that I’ve seen requires a MLS.
I work as an Adult Services Specialist. I have a Masters but not in Library Science. I do programs, run a book club, work the reference desk, provide tech assistance, Readers Advisory, etc. I earn about 2/3 of a librarian’s salary.
posted by WithWildAbandon at 2:05 PM on April 28 [1 favorite]

Where I live (major metropolitan area) you would need an MLS for you resume to be considered for a librarian position. You could easily get a library associate position, but the pay is abysmal for those.

However, about 2-3 hours out from my area, the small rural libraries might be a good fit, predominantly because they have a smaller applicant pool so they could actually read resumes rather than having the resumes sorted by a computer system first.

You might also want to consider library or research positions in federal government, which typically follow the GS pay scale and sometimes have the option of subbing experience for a degree. However, the federal hiring process tends to take a little longer than the municipal and local processes.
posted by donut_princess at 7:08 PM on April 28

I work for the library system in Pittsburgh PA, and they definitely hire folks like you. Probably about half the staff don't have their MLS--you need a BA for a lot of positions, but you have that, plus tons of experience. The non-MLS jobs definitely pay less, but you're certainly hireable in Pittsburgh, and from what I've seen of the county libraries' hiring, in the general area around here.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 7:51 PM on April 28

In my city, you would need to have an MLIS to be considered—I wouldn’t even see your resume, unfortunately, because HR would have weeded you out. But you would be considered to do programming, at a rate only slightly lower than a librarian.

The rural library that I came from? No problem, but the pay was awful.
posted by sugarbomb at 8:03 PM on April 28 [1 favorite]

Hello! I am a library science professor and we watch these trends with interest. As far as we can tell, it is like they mention above....entirely dependent on location. I think the closer you are to city (or MLS degree granting institution) the more likely it is that they will require one.

On the other hand, cities have a lot of library positions that don't require a degree, but of course the pay is reduced considerably.

Something to consider--perhaps you might want to get involved in your state or national library association? You'll get a better sense of what the job prospects are in your particular area and also make some good connections in the event you do need to move.
posted by aetg at 6:46 AM on May 1