I wanted to pop in and throw out a quick “I told you so”.
Alas, it is official; the worst possible master’s degree you can get is the
MLIS.
With a mid-career median pay of $57,600 coupled with an 8.5%
growth rate to 2020, librarianship is going down the tubes exactly as I
predicted it would.
Now you might think $57k a year is pretty good, and it is, but
good luck landing that job. You are looking at astronomical competition for
every full-time position paying over $30k. The last full-time position we had
open ($33k) had hundreds of applicants. In the end we interviewed 5 people and
they were all spectacular. Every one had a wonderful personality, impeccable grooming,
advanced computer skills, communicated well, and had a master’s degree. The latter part is interesting
because they did not have to have a master’s degree, it was only preferred.
Also important to note is that all of these people had 5+ years working in libraries
or related professions, which was also not required.
Think about that for a second… 5 years experience
plentifully available for $33k a year.
What do all of the thousands of MLIS graduates expect to
make fresh out of college? They would be lucky, extremely lucky, to get $33k.
(about 1 in 250 chance in the above case)
So, what do all these new graduates do? The ones that don’t just
give up and do something else get jobs in libraries. They get jobs as assistants,
shelvers, or counter work and they do it for about $25k a year. They do it well
for $25k a year. And there goes the demand for higher paid librarians.
Perfect shit storm achieved… decreased demand, increased
supply.
The only solution is to stop churning out as many MLIS
degree and possible.
That is not going to happen.
