Why the fuck is that so hard and unsustainable. I want to eat and afford rent and organize an archive of knowledge. I want a horde that I get to share with people. I want curious individuals to come to me and ask me to direct them to the knowledge they seek. I want to read and read and read and get lost in my ivory tower. Is that so bad? Is there no plcae in our society for this? It’s so fucking frustrating to receive nothing in response to a job application. I guess I will teach instead of being the esoteric librarian I crave being. Why did I have to be born into a working class family at a time when archivists are becoming obsolete. It’s such bullshit. I just want to preserve the knowledge I love and pass it on to similarly interested people.
we are not. I got my MLS over 15 years ago, it took 5 years to land even a part time job, and I finally got fulltime employment about 4 years ago. I work for a library in a mid sized city in the the North Eastern USA and even with a strong Union only make about 50k a year. Libraries are the last to get funded and the first to get cut. Everyone has to run programs and classes, interact with the public at large events, and be a social worker on top of all the normal work were supposed to do. I still love it, I have good benefits, and I am still in line to get a pension, but I will never recommend anyone to get the degree. The days of what the OP are talking about don’t exist especially in Public Libraries.