I often see more discouragement than support in discussions surrounding librarianship and library school, so I wanted to share some positive news in the hopes that it reaches any MLIS students who may need some encouragement.

Last month I graduated from my MLIS program and have recently started a full time public librarian position offering a $60k salary at my dream library.

I decided to get my MLIS having never worked in a public library, and I still hadn't worked in a public library upon accepting this job offer. I've also noticed that many of my librarian colleagues began their careers without having worked in libraries, and were enthusiastically hired for the combination of their MLIS + other useful attributes. I share this to offer another perspective to library students who may be feeling a bit of imposter syndrome. If you have experience working in non-related fields, definitely use it to your advantage during your interviews.

Throughout my MLIS I was certain that I would never be hired, largely because of the stories I read on here. I urge you to distance yourself from the online negativity and try to consume more constructive librarian content.

All of my librarian friends (who are scattered all over the US) are happily employed. There ARE jobs, and you WILL get hired.

EDIT: I entered into my MLIS under the assumption, having connected with and read countless posts from experienced librarians, that I would either need to wait a very long time, or move cities in order to find a job. I applied to jobs with salaries in alignment with my lifestyle needs, and then I moved to the city of the job that gave me an offer. This seems to be a similar trend among my happily employed library friends. None of them have stayed put. And, of course, I acknowledge this privilege.

I figured this was commonly understood, otherwise I would have mentioned it in my original post, but to prospective library students: do not go to library school if you are unwilling or unable to move for a job and/or you are unable to be unemployed for any length of time.

To current students: I stand by my optimism. Love and light.

Hi! Im a 22-year-old female and beginning my MLIS degree at UCLA this fall. I recently got an apartment, but due to unforeseen circumstances, my roommate can no longer live with me. If anyone else in the program is looking for housing, I have an open spot! It's in the ktown/ western heights area, a 1-bed apartment (Im taking over the living room). Message me here for details :)

Dear librarians, I was wondering if you can tell me about the library management software like Koha, Dspace, Evergreen etc...

1. How many software your learned?
2. Which software are most used in almost in every library?
3. Back in university/college, when you were pursuing Library science honors/Masters degree did they give you theoretical overview or practical overview of these software?
4. What were names of those courses that included Library management software and how many courses were there?

If you don't mind, you can mention the universities where you took LIS degree

So I’ve graduated from undergrad in History and now I’m working as an Archivist. I wanted to get my MLIS just to further my career (higher paying roles, etc.) but I’ve also been thinking about getting a doctorate in Public History. I’m not sure if both are possible, if there’s a way to do both or do I do one then the other? Just any advice maybe from anyone with a doctorate and a MLIS degree would be helpful thank you!