So you want to be a librarian

Lately, for some reason, lots of friends and acquaintances are telling me they want to go to library school.

I usually don’t know what to say, trying to convey the fact that:

• Yes, indeed, libraries are awesome. (Especially in theory/potential).
• But most libraries are very frustrating places to work.
• The future of libraries is pretty uncertain, and I’m not too optimistic. (For the record, it’s not that I don’t think libraries are needed anymore, it’s that, from observation,  I’m not too optimistic about actual real world libraries managing to fulfill their changing needs).
• But I actually rather like my job.
• The job market is very not good, if you want a gravy train to a comfortable career, there’s probably a better option.

Thanks to Bobbi Newman for putting together a list of pretty good potential-future-librarian-advice blog entries. And to Meredith Farkas for linking to it.