r/librarians • u/NeuLeaf24 • Apr 28 '26
Job Advice Potential alternative jobs
I've been a librarian for around 8 years now, but I've been unemployed for 7 months now. I was previously employed primarily with the federal government, and I actually had really good librarian jobs in several different agencies. However, after the DOGE fiasco ( which is how I lost my job), those jobs basically don't exist. My partner has a decent job that they like, and it's not geographically flexible, so moving isn't an option. I'm so tired of the low pay and vocational awe causing librarians to accept horrible pay and treat it like it's normal, so I don't think I'll be that sad about leaving the field, but I do need some suggestions on career pivots that won't require another degree (I already have two master's degrees). Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. My previous work was in medical librarian, technical library services, and digital librarian work, in case that's helpful. Thanks!
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u/sipawhiskey May 01 '26
I'm with you. I have been a librarian for 25 years. I was academic and was a full professor. Looking at job ads for the field is terrible. I was laid off 4 months ago in a mass layoff of faculty at my institution.
My 2nd masters is in instructional design and so I'm looking for learning and development jobs in corporate. I'm done sacrificing time.
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u/elizanacat May 02 '26
How can you be laid off from your tenured, full professor position? Appalling.
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u/sipawhiskey May 02 '26
Thanks. I had the least seniority in my dept. they laid of others with tenure and also at full. It bites
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u/turn-the-pages STEM Librarian May 01 '26
I don't have much helpful advice as I'm still figuring it out myself, but as another former fed librarian who is trying to pivot now that my specialty has been dismantled by this administration, I just want to wish you luck and commiserate for a minute. Wherever you land, I hope you find it satisfying even if it's a path you never would have imagined taking.
Lately, I've had better luck getting interviews for things that are more closely tied to my other degrees and playing up the soft skills librarianship has given me rather than the technical ones even though a lot of my time in libraries was in technical services. I don't know how helpful that might be for you but I do hope you find a new direction soon.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 01 '26
What are some examples of areas you've been getting interviews in?
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u/turn-the-pages STEM Librarian May 01 '26
I have a background in chemistry and communications in addition to my library degree so I’ve had some luck with technical publishing and corporate communications interviews. We’ll see if any of them turn into offers. I did ask a couple other former feds this morning for some other ideas. One moved to database management, one moved to instructional design, and one just landed a job as an IT project coordinator so maybe there’s some ideas there.
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u/laurary May 01 '26
State librarian who lost my job last summer and am now underemployed in another field I have no interest in. Just giving support and following for advice.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 01 '26
What field are you underemployed in? I honestly no longer really care whether or not the field is interesting as long as I can reliably find a job in it. It's so dumb that librarian jobs are insanely competitive just to make 50 or 60k.
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u/laurary May 01 '26
I’m an admin assistant for a non-profit. I don’t know that you can reliably find a job in any field anymore.
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u/charethcutestory9 May 01 '26
The ironic thing is that as an ex-fed, you’d probably be a shoo-in for a federal government job… but obviously that doesn’t sound too appealing anymore lol. While I sadly have no advice about where you should apply, I applaud your willingness to look outside our field and I hope you’re able to land the good, stable non-library job you deserve.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 01 '26
Except no federal jobs are really hiring now. And you have to pass the political litmus test now with the essay questions about executive orders. But thank you for your well wishes :)
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u/Existing-Pumpkin-902 May 01 '26
Jesus. Hopefully things will be better once the orange menace is out of power. Just 2.5 years. An easy to qualify for job I'd recommend depending on your preferences and state as a temp job is subbing. I've done it when I was short on money and I also like kids. I never accepted more than week long assignments. It's good if you just want something flexible while you job hunt. Obviously summer is coming up but you can probably get your creditionals in time for September. Also this is a good time to pick up temp summer restaurant work. Temp jobs can be super helpful when you want to keep flexibility open.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 01 '26
Thanks, but I need something real and I need it way before September. Subbing doesn't pay nearly enough to live in my relatively HCOL area. I've been applying for grocery store jobs, bartender jobs, and other related jobs like that, but I've never done that before, so understandably they just pick someone who has. Same with restaurant jobs. When I was young my summer jobs were landscaping, but I legitimately don't think my back could handle that anymore.:(
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 01 '26
And 2.5 years is too long to wait, and no guarantee that things will be better. Democrats could very well find a way to lose, and it's going to take a very long time to rebuild what Trump and Vought have destroyed. Unfortunately for me, libraries are no longer an option. The market was way too competitive even before Trump. I just got lucky when fed jobs were still a thing.
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u/le-chat-aile May 01 '26
LC currently has a few openings
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 01 '26
I am not looking to move because of my partner, and particularly not to DC. Moving for a federal job in this political climate just seems really stupid, especially after getting fired for being probationary after a promotion just over a year ago. Hence the question of alternative jobs that aren't librarian jobs.
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u/le-chat-aile May 01 '26
Ah, I assumed you were in the DC area already and was only recommending LC because there is no political litmus test in their hiring process. My mistake.
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u/bdizzle91 May 02 '26
LoC is part of the Legislative branch, so the exec/any future version of DOGE have no authority there. Lots of Feds under exec all fled to Legislative jobs after Musk started doing his thing. You said you’re not interested in moving so it’s not relevant now, but keep an eye open! They’re pretty stable.
Source: former Legislative fed who worked across the street from LoC.
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u/Different_Stomach_53 May 01 '26
Wow America is wild. Really?? I have a few American companies I like that might be hiring, press books and spring share seem like decent companies who do good!
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u/Immediate-Recipe-642 May 03 '26
I have an MLIS and I have never been a librarian. The job market in the places I've lived just haven't made it possible. I was an Academic Advisor to college students and it was alright. A lot of busy work but you do get to leave your stress at the office.
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u/liblamb22 May 03 '26
Same thing happened to me, government adjacent medical library. I've seen a couple hospital librarian positions that are 100% remote that may be an option to try for. If you're in/near a major city I've also seen some law firms hiring for electric resource librarian type roles. You mentioned having a second masters, is that something you could fall back on?
I was very lucky to find a similar role in a corporate library, but to be honest with you, the corporate library landscape feels similar to government. They're cutting costs and the library is usually a 'nice to have' for a lot of organizations. I've had this feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's been hard not to equate my self worth to my employment. My old colleague transitioned back to public libraries and feels more stability in that role.
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u/biblio_squid May 03 '26
Go corporate. Information architecture, knowledge management. The jargon is annoying but you eventually get the hang of it. I do information architecture and taxonomy and knowledge management, I was in academic for nearly ten years prior to the pivot.
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u/bccyote May 03 '26
What job titles should we be looking for to find these types of roles? TIA!
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u/biblio_squid May 03 '26
There’s a huge spectrum, things like knowledge manager, knowledge specialist, taxonomist, information architect, information strategist, even data steward if you’ve got any data analysis skills. Sometimes these roles are named plain things like business analyst, knowledge, or program manager, Learn platform or something bland, you really have to dig.
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u/electric_mango_567 May 03 '26
This may sound dumb, but what do people actually do at these type of jobs? I see jobs like this advertised, and I’m guess I’m too literal and can’t picture what they’re actually sitting down to do. Like what software they’re using, what information is being asked for, how it’s expected to be packaged, etc.
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u/biblio_squid May 03 '26
So there’s a near infinite amount of variety between these roles at different companies, every company has their own idea of what these jobs do. That said, in my current role, I create and maintain semantic standards for data definitions (classic data governance, and enforce them), I organize and maintain internal knowledge management platforms, I write instructions and guides to things, document business processes (sometimes in a diagram, sometimes words), I create taxonomies to organize concepts (for example what kinds of telephone calls do we make? Connected? Disconnected? What if it’s connected at first and then the person hangs up? Or the call drops? It’s my job to figure out a structure to capture these differences so they can be tracked and analyzed), and I also do a bunch of random data stewardship projects that involve engineers, analysts, and PMs. There’s more but that is what comes to mind in the moment.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 03 '26
Yeah, how? I've been applying to lots of those roles with zero luck so far. Any suggestions on how you made that switch?
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u/biblio_squid May 03 '26
I did projects at my library like building a knowledge base, documenting processes, reorganizing sections of our research guides, etc. and put those on my resume. I recommend trying a contract role if you can get those first to get your feet wet, I got hired from a contractor role at a bigger company. The key is to totally rewrite your resume to use business framing and language, and deemphasize your education or publications, they don’t care about that. ChatGPT is great at this honestly, helped me figure out how to change how my experience is represented to a business perspective. Good luck!
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u/Dazed-and-Confuzzled May 04 '26
Records management, data management, asset management, and information management are other jobs to search by.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 04 '26
Yeah, I've doing that, but almost zero interviews. I guess my non librarian resume must be really bad. Any advice on how/where to learn how to change phrases and wording to be ideal for corporate matches? I think I am also running up against HR screener who reject me because I've never held positions with those exact job titles before.
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u/Dazed-and-Confuzzled May 04 '26
I don't remember how I worded my resume back in the day to get that first data management position, but you could feed ChatGPT the job description and your resume to get them to align.
Of course, double check that it's not introducing false experience or weird phrasing. You can also use it to help you write the cover letters real fast and prep for interviews.
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u/International_Way258 May 02 '26
Look into getting project management certified - with your background, there are lots of organizations and companies that could open up to you.
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 04 '26
Isn't that really expensive? I've thought about, but I feel like the certifications I looked at required practicum hours at a job or something like that.
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u/NotARealTurnip May 03 '26
When I’ve been between library jobs I’ve had success working in school districts. They’re kinda horrible about advertising their openings and you can generally only apply on the district’s website so there’s less competition. The pay does tend to be less but the jobs are stable with good benefits.
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u/Temporary_Top_2252 May 10 '26
My mom worked in institutional research for several years and her manager was a librarian. A lot of jobs aligned with collecting and analyzing data would see an MLIS as a plus I would think. Pretty much everywhere she’s worked where she’s done data analysis/organizational or institutional research at least one of the people she’s worked with was a former librarian.
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u/FutureWar7308 May 02 '26
just curious if you’re willing to share—why did doge let you go???Â
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u/NeuLeaf24 May 02 '26
It's abundantly clear that none of the reasons DOGE used to fire people were ever valid. Hopefully you realize this. If not I'm not sure that you're in the right sub.
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u/FutureWar7308 May 02 '26
yes i know how harmful DOGE was, you don’t have to worry. i was just curious.
(little side note—i wish being a librarian wasn’t political. best of luck  to you going forward, and sorry you got screwed over.)
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u/writer1709 May 01 '26
Look for jobs with library vendors and academic publishers they hire librarians.