Any Librarians out there?

I'm really not happy in my current job/profession and I've been really thinking about pursuing an interest in becoming a librarian.

I love the library, i love books, i love research and fact finding/learning and I'd love to work in a quite(r) environment.

I've done some research on line about what being a librarian entails today, and so far most of that seems interesting.

But i know that there are always "hidden" aspects of the job that you would never know about until you do them, so I was wondering if any librarians or friends/family of a librarian could tell me more about what you love/hate about the job.

I do have the opportunity to apply for a circulation assistant's position at my alma mater, and that position doesn't require an mls. I thought if I got the job it could also provide me with some experience before I decide if I want to get another degree.

The things I don't like about my current job would mainly circle around working in a really small firm and having too many 'hats' to wear. I'm the receptionist, sales, research, designer, project manager, office manager, pre press, quality control and billing. That's a lot and I really hate talking on the phone, which about 7 or 8 of those require lots of phone time.

So, any insights for me?

~Julia

hi. I can help a little as I served as temple librarian for three years.

the two possible downsides are:
the solitude- which is really cool at forst
and processing lots of books for circulation can be a total drag unless you have great software.

many librarians specialize now so you can be a general all purpose librarian or one with quite an arcane specialty. Working in a library will give you a great insight into the work before you plunk down the time and money to get an MLS.

keep us posted

Thanks for sharing that! it's really helpful to get other's first hand experiences.

Now I gotta get my resumé together!

Any other librarians out there?

~Julia

D'oh, double post, page wasn't loading!

~Julia