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A Really Alternative Career in Librarianship
by Officer Tom Rink
When you think about the title "librarian," the traditional settings that come to mind are public libraries, academic libraries, and school libraries. As a matter of fact, the entire time that I was in library school, I envisioned becoming an academic librarian. I never dreamed that I'd be able to pursue a library career in my chosen first profession, law enforcement. However, when the opportunity arose to create a library for the police department (where none had previously existed) I jumped at the chance. As the information age continues to evolve and grow, this may just be the time to start expanding our thinking in the direction of the "non-traditional" or "alternative" career choices that are available in the field of librarianship.
Self-Evaluation
To successfully explore the new career opportunities which are emerging all around us, we must realistically assess or evaluate our skill sets and competencies. We must also be able to articulate and translate these to the new, and sometimes difficult to understand, job descriptions that are written in different terms than those for traditional library-related positions. "Out-of-the-box" thinking must become the norm. Use your imagination, set your goals, and go for it!
What is really required is an entrepreneurial spirit which includes having a vision for the future, a certain degree of risk-taking, a strong desire to succeed, a creative/innovative outlook, and a customer-focused service orientation. In addition, today's information professional must be an effective communicator, have the ability to prioritize, be committed to lifelong learning (and career development), understand the balance between leading, following, and collaborating, be flexible, and understand the value of networking. Having dogged determination (perseverance) doesn't hurt, either!
Finding Alternatives
So, what are the jobs, and where are they? The overly-simple answer: as a profession, we are becoming more and more entrepreneurial; we are able to manage information organizations, manage information resources, manage information services, and apply information tools and technologies in any setting that we choose (corporate or otherwise).
Every sector of the economy has a growing need for information professionals: the manufacturing industry, the service/business industry, government agencies (yes, even an occasional police department), academic or educational institutions, hospitals or other health institutions, agricultural and food processing businesses, professional and trade associations (and not-for-profits), research and consulting organizations, and arts and entertainment organizations. The new focus for librarians or information professionals is on managing the informational needs or requirements of the decision-makers within the organizations that they serve.
To help brainstorm the possibilities (and the following lists are by no means exhaustive), some of the titles used (in addition to librarian and information professional) include archivist, consultant, information broker, knowledge manager, independent information professional, chief information officer, market researcher, taxonomist, indexer/abstracter, records manager, and web developer. And, judging from some of the recent job ads that I have seen, these titles are becoming more and more technological in nature: electronic resources librarian, network administrator, technology systems librarian, electronic products manager.
Our settings are also quite varied. We work in libraries, information centers, resource centers, research and development units, planning centers, think tanks in corporations, banks, law firms, prisons, churches, museums, hospitals, police departments, and even from our homes. We can operate in person, by phone, by fax, and via the computer and/or the Internet (providing virtual reference services).
Out On Your Own
You could even become your own boss and enter the world of consulting. Consulting can include evaluating a library or library services, doing public relations, performing information audits, outsourcing, space planning analysis, document delivery, records management, training other librarians (through workshops and seminars), writing (books, articles, newsletters), designing or producing databases, web design, indexing and/or abstracting. Or, you could become a vendor representative (sales, database searching), or work for a library supplier. In the corporate world, the field of competitive intelligence (gathering information that will assist a company in maintaining or gaining a competitive advantage) continues to thrive. Again, all that is required is a little creativity in your thinking.
Hopefully, you are beginning to get an understanding of the variety and types of alternatives that exist in our world today. And, if for some reason you cannot seem to find your niche, then create it! Take the initiative and put your entrepreneurial skills to work. Colleagues that I encounter during the course of my professional development/ professional association activities constantly marvel at the fact that our police department has a library, and that it's staffed by a degreed librarian, to boot. (In the law enforcement world, this is not the norm - but wouldn't it be wonderful if it were to become the norm?)
How many other people have had the opportunity to create their own niche? Probably more than you would guess. Next time you are at a conference, workshop, seminar, or program, challenge yourself to examine the job titles and employers/work settings of the other attendees - you'll be amazed at what you discover. In addition to being a wonderful networking opportunity, you may just find your dream job.
Editor's Note: See Officer Rink's story at http://www.rose.edu/lrc/careers/rink.htm.
Officer Tom Rink, a 23+ year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department, received his MLIS from the University of Oklahoma in 1992 and has spent the last 11 years building (from scratch) and managing the library for the Tulsa Police Department. Tom is active in the Special Libraries Association and is the current President-elect of the Oklahoma Chapter.