As many of my closest friends know, life after college has been a struggle career-wise. I’m happier than I’ve ever been nowadays, but my seemingly nonexistent career advancement has been lingering in the back of my mind for a long time now.
Even though I know I love books and helping people, I still have qualms about pursuing library work. It’s not particularly lucrative, but it seems rewarding in more ways than one. The library is my dream work environment: not too fast-paced and far less stressful than the retail world. The people I’ve met through the library system are incredibly open-minded and very neurodiverse as well as LGBTQ+ friendly.
Looking back at all the jobs I’ve held, my library jobs brought me the most joy. So I feel like that’s telling me something important, that this is the path I’ve finally settled on.
I have so many qualms about it, though. For instance, it’s a very white-female-dominated field, and out of all my coworkers, there are 4 minorities. I love my work friends, but the lack of diversity makes me question if someone who looks like me can really make it far in the world of library work.
I’ve also heard a library degree can be challenging because of the research component. You have to have a clear picture of what you want to research going in so that you can write your thesis accordingly. I haven’t put much thought into it…
