are you now, or have you ever been, A Librarian?

torture torture torture

Work in a public library and you will still get the Dewey patina. Also the patina of public body floods in dimly lits stairwells, missed by the custodial crews, unless you fill out a special form pointing them out.

(not that you couldn't find that with a Google search.)

I haven't actually used it in over ten years, so I don't know exactly what it's like these days.

my aunt was a librarian at the nih and carried her profession into their home - all the books in their house were cataloged! she had stickers with the decimal codes and everything! it was amazing.

I kind of fell into libraries by accident, in the new year I start a new job with my local city council doing something kinda IT (I really can't remember what the job entails!!) in the Housing Department, I'm kinda looking forward to it but am a wee bit nervous as it may involve actual work!

I have to write 15,000 words by the end of Jamuary on electronic databases/journals! yay! I'll be using my patented method of mentioning the same thing 3 times.

Next month I am moving from circulation to children's reference. I'm excited--the people working the desk seem to have lots of time to read.

Best A/V Club Graduate
Kevin Crothers
If you've noticed the steady increase in interesting events happening at the Charleston County Public Library, the dedicated man to thank is media specialist and A/V department head dude Kevin Crothers. Crothers, a lifelong musician and general A/V guru, actively works to bring culture to his corner of our small town through the monthly Film Movement series, in which independent, art-house films are shown on the big screen in the Main Library's auditorium, and his ongoing efforts to promote local music during Piccolo Spoleto through his Local Blend series, in which a diverse lineup of local bands perform in the auditorium at times that work for all age groups. Perhaps best of all, each live musical performance at the library is captured on digital audio and video equipment and put on the library's website for future enjoyment. Not to mention the mountains of new CDs and DVDs Crothers has brought into the library's collection. Bravo, Kevin, and thanks for keeping your inner A/V geek entertained and entertaining for us all. --Sara Miller

librarians r cool.

Where do you live now? I go to Catholic. I chose between Catholic and Maryland. My choice came down to location (I lived here already). I chose Catholic because I like smaller schools and there was a tuition discount which made the two schools comparable in price. Though I think Maryland has a better reputation so maybe I made the wrong decision

Those are all great schools that you got into. Are you interested in a certain concentration that one school offers? Are you interested in living in a particular area? Are you interested in working in a certain area? I think Michigan has the best reputation of all those schools, but I'm not sure it matters that much. At Catholic, most students are part-time and work full-time and are pretty much adults. That works for me. I'm not sure a full-time collegiate-type program would be the best thing for me, mainly because I just don't find the coursework that interesting. I couldn't imagine doing it full time,

Is it worth it? Only if you want to be a librarian or some other related career. In my view, it's just not that intellectually stimulating, such as a liberal arts degree. Can you get financial aid from any of the schools? The jobs are generally low paying once you get out so I would try to keep loans to a minimum. Also, experience is really important so if any of the colleges offer you a work-study position that would be great.

If I were you, here's where I would go, in order of preference:

Pitt: Good school, nice city.
Pratt: Great city, expensive school.
Michigan: Highly rated, possibly over driven classmates.
Texas: Good school, college town.

Good luck. Let me know if I can be of any more help.

(Pratt would have been my dream school but even when I was in NYC I was thinking more in terms of Queens and St. John's. Also, I already have one vanity M.A. so am trying to be more practical this time around.)

Michigan gave me a scholarship for 50% off (though it is still expensive) and texas is pretty cheap...I don't know, I am really interested in academic librarianship, and maybe also archival work? What think you hivemind? Anybody know any other good skools?

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/lib/brief/libsp1_brief.php

Texas or Michigan would give you the opportunity to investigate both academic and archives.

uh...since i have nothing to offer besides this, i will just second what mary said re: pratt. if you "live near nyc" and don't mind the commute, the palmer school has, to my knowledge, a fairly good rep too.