What's the Alternative? Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros

Citation

Nason, G. (2008), "What's the Alternative? Career Options for Librarians and Info Pros", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 461-462. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330810912151

I eagerly anticipated the arrival of this book and I was not disappointed. The book introduces a range of careers that are open to librarians. It provides sound advice and poses challenging questions for people who want to move their career path away from libraries. This book is applicable to any librarian who wants a career change: if you are starting your career in libraries and the career has not met your expectations; if you are facing redundancy or a change in your work pattern; or even if you who have been in the profession for a long time and need to look again at where your career is heading.

Nine chapters look at a set of roles with a similar theme, such as organisations serving libraries; organisations similar to libraries and non‐traditional roles in traditional organisations. There is also a chapter on moving back into libraries after working outside the field. Each theme includes a number of roles or careers, and discusses the skills needed to do them. All chapters include narratives from people who have made the move. They describe their new roles, why they moved to this new career and highlight the positive and negative aspects of their career change.

A large number of alternative careers are considered including: working for library vendors; working in records management and information research; writing and working as a freelancer and setting up your own business. However, I would have liked to see a bigger discussion around working with technology and IT. Moving into management is not discussed in this book. Each chapter provides advice, suggestions for further training and lists of sources of further information, covering books, papers and websites. There is a supporting website providing links to the sites mentioned in the book.

Each of the roles identified are very much an extension of the current skill set, you may already have or have developed while working in libraries. As the roles considered are an extension of your librarian skill set, some readers may find the examples given may be too narrow – the word “library” is still mentioned a lot! But in each instance, the transferrable skills are highlighted and in many ways the text provides the reasons you may give to any future employer about why you had a change of career direction – it could support your application.

The most important chapter is Chapter 1 and it is worthwhile going back to this chapter after you have completed your own research behind the alternative career. “Making the change” poses questions that help you look at your own skills, interests and reasons why you want to change. It provides guidance on the preparation that you need to take and helps you ensure that you are making the move in the right direction.

Chapter 11 looks at taking the next steps on your new career path, from planning your career, further education and developing other skills. Here Rachel Singer Gordon highlights the potential pitfalls in career changes and not working in a traditional library environment and provides some guidance in dealing with the negative attitudes and perceptions that you may face.

While the information sources and websites are focused to the US job market, the information is relevant wherever you are based. The book emphasises that as a librarian you already have the skills to investigate and research these alternative career paths. It is well written and a good starting point for making that change!